


A Virtuous Demon

by ArronWolf



Category: Original Work
Genre: Inspired by Anime, Many anime elements, Most chapters will have alot of work needed, NOT FINISHED AT ALL
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-04-12 10:22:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19130083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArronWolf/pseuds/ArronWolf
Summary: This world is a world of magic, the type of magic that allows people to shoot fire from their hands, create their own clones, have control over natural disasters, or be able to fly. But the most glaring difference between this world and library books, is that we also have technology, cell phones, cars, trains, computers, satellites, and tvs. But one thing is the same in this world and in books, anyone can become strong and make a difference.





	1. Beginning

As I stare up at my math teacher working on the board, the only thing that filled my mind was the fact that summer was only two days away. Most of the kids in middle school were excited at the fact they didn’t have to go to school, got to hang out with friends, and sleep in until noon. But for me, I was excited to get into a certain high school, more specifically ‘Mystic Domain High’ or M.D.H. There, students get to exercise their magic far more than any other school, as well as they don’t have to worry about damaging anything since one of the faculty can manipulate concrete. I continued to fantasize about what it would be like to attend M.D.H. until a hand slammed onto my desk with alarming force.

“Woah!!” I shrieked as I snapped my head back so fast I flung myself out of my chair and onto the floor. I slowly open my eyes and rub my head only to see my teacher, Mr. Collins, with a menacing glare standing above me.

“And why are you sleeping in class Aaron?” Mr. Collins dangerously asked as crossed his arms while his hair started to lift upwards along with a brown outline.

“I wasn’t! I was just uh… thinking about entering into MDH after summer!!” I manage to stammer out getting up and back into my chair. Mr. Collins seemed skeptical at first before his brown outline disappeared and hair fell back down coupled with a sigh.

“Alright, but only since you’re passing and aiming for greater highs.” Mr. Collins reluctantly said as he walked back to the board and continued class. I sigh in relief as he began to speak once more.

Damn! That was a bit overkill… I huff to myself as I look up at the clock waiting for school to end only to drift back into fantasy until the bell rang.

As the school day ends, I begrudgingly close my locker for the last time as I sling my now cinderblock of a backpack over my shoulder and walk down the hallway. Halfway down I notice Derek turn a corner in front of me, I speed up until I’m walking next to him.

“I can’t believe they gave us this much stuff over the year!” I complain to Derek while slumping my shoulders, making Derek chuckle slightly.

“No use complaining about it now. Since it’s only a few days until we leave this place.” Derek reassured with a wide smile and a slap on my back.

“Yeah, I am excited about that for sure.” I respond standing back up straight. A few moments of silence pass before I decide to ask Derek a question I was meaning to ask.

“You know where you’re going for high school?” I question tilting my toward him with a raised eyebrow. Derek responded as if he was waiting for someone to ask.

“You betcha! I’m going to M.D.H. for sure!” He exclaimed his hands forming fists from his excitement.

“Well look forward to seeing me there too!” I quickly reply with his excitement spreading over to me as well.

“Wait really? I know we’ve been friends since we were kids but you don’t have to go to the same high school as me.” Derek began to try and make sure that I wasn’t just doing for no real reason.

“Oh come on! I’m not going because you are! I decided that I was going for awhile now.” I respond as I punch Derek’s arm.

“Alright then, I might see you at the entrance exam then?” Derek asked as he turned to me with an outstretched hand. I look down before a large grin grew on my face.

“Yeah, I’ll see you then.” I respond grabbing his hand. He both head to our homes after that. I couldn’t help but wish that the entrance exam wasn’t a month away.

And with that, Summer vacation might not have begun, but it was as if it had already started, ended and started again for me.  
======================================================================  
A month has gone by in a blink of an eye after summer vacation started, each day consisted of waking up, eating breakfast, and going out to train until dinner. Today was the scheduled day for the M.D.H. entrance exam for freshmen, and along with that meant that hundreds of people poured in to sign up for the exam.

As I walked up to the counter I was greeted by a very official looking man behind the desk.

“State your name, age, reason for coming, magical power, previous school, and home address.” The man deadpanned as he handed me a pen in paper almost mechanically. I quickly filled out the paper and gave it back to the man who took the paper, glanced at it and put it under the desk in such a way that it made him look inhuman.

“Alright, head to the outdoors gymnasium and wait there for further instructions.” The man directed with his hand without another notice.

“Alright thanks.” I respond and made my way to where he had motioned. As I walk outside I couldn’t help but be surprised at how large the area was. It was at least as large as a football stadium, coupled with bleachers and lights. I walk out onto the grass and start to prepare myself for the exam in any way I could think of. As I began to brainstorm about the exam, I looked around the gym and guessed there would have to be around 1,000 people here all taking the exam.

“Wait you know what they’re going to do for the exam?!” Someone yelled snapping me out of my thoughts, I turn to see a small crowd around a few guys. I make my way over to see what was going on.

“Come on tell us! Tell us!” Another voice pleaded as a few more people came over. I looked to see that everyone was crowding around two guys, one tall, one a bit short, both dirty blond hair and seemed to be brothers.

“It’s not that big of a deal, all you had to do was ask.” The taller brother began rubbing the back of his head along with a red tint in his cheeks.

“It couldn’t have been that easy!” A voice rang out of the still growing crowd along with a few murmurs of agreement.

“Well anyway! The exam is split into three parts, the magic tests, the one on one sparring matches, and then the stat recordings.” The shorter brother broke in and explained and made his way from the crowd with his brother.

After the explanation the crowd of people had dispersed leaving me standing alone talking to myself. A few minutes pass before a voice was heard from the speakers.

“Alright it seems like everyone is here! Now then, you will be sorted into three groups, each taking a different part of the entrance exam.” The voice echoed throughout the gym. Before anyone could ask a single question, a blue glow surrounded everyone in the gym and flashed with an intense light making me cover my eyes.

I lower my arm and open my eyes to see that I was no longer in the outdoor gymnasium but instead in a completely different area. The walls of the gymnasium were gone and instead were replaced by an open field with stacks upon stacks of targets.

“Good, everyone for this group is here.” A voice says making me turn to see a small group of people, with each of them all looking like stereotypes of businessmen except for the man who just spoke.

“For this part of the exam you will have three tests you will have to pass. Those being, a magic control test, magic range test, and magic cast test.” The man explained as the other people with him had given each of us a piece of paper with a number. I look down at my paper to see that my number was 34. After that the man began to call each number starting from one to take the magic control test.

It felt like hours before my number was finally called. I stepped forward and instantly dozens of small round targets lifted into the air and began to circle around me. Each target was only the size of a paper plate, and were circling around me quite quickly.

“Destroy as many of the targets with your magic, and try and do it with as few casts as possible.” The man explained as the targets continued to circle around me. This only made me grin in amusement.

“All I have to do is destroy as many targets as I can in as few casts as I can right? That’s all?” I question turning towards the man who simply nodded in response. Alright, lets go this!  
I shift my feet wide as I clench my hands into fists along with blazing flames onto my fists. I follow by generating more flames and circling them around my fists until the they are covered in fireballs the size of basketballs.

“What’s he doing?” “That’s already two casts.” “What is he going to do?” I heard the same three things being said as I swirl my flames around my fists. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling as I heard everyone’s voices.

“They never said you couldn’t blast all the targets away at once!” I mentally exclaim as I raise both of my fists above my head and slam them down directly into the ground creating an eruption of flames in every direction, destroying all the targets around me and stopping before it reached anyone else, along with minimizing the amount of ground burnt.

As the smoke clears I stand up straight with a grin glued to my face and look straight at the man to see that he was grinning along with me. I walked back into the crowd of people and waited until my number was called again.

The remainder of people needing to finish the test was large to say the least. With around 400 people remaining, I saw people try to mimic what I had done, used a homing spell to destroy multiple targets with only one cast, and some just using sheer force to destroy the targets.

As everyone finished the first test, the man began the second test calling out numbers once more, it wasn’t long before my number was called. As I stepped forward, this time there were only three targets, however each one was over two hundred feet away and were stationary.

“Try and hit each target from where you are standing, also you can only use two casts per target.” The man explained as I turned towards the targets. As I peer towards the targets I notice that they were all very close together, only about a yards width away, with each target being a different shape and size. The largest was a square, the next was a circle, and the smallest was a diamond.

I bend my knees as I ignite flames in my right hand and swirl them into a ball. I erupt the rest of my arm in flames and concentrate them into my right hand, while reeling my arm back, lifting my leg off the ground, pivoting my other ankle and hurling my flames straight ahead towards the targets.

As my flames leave my hand, a small shockwave blasts from my arm, kicking up some dirt from the ground. As my fireball rockets towards the targets, I narrow my eyes as it closes in on a target. After I do my fireball slams into the diamond shaped target, bursting upon contact.

“Alright!” I grin, slightly celebrating to myself. I shift my feet back to my throwing position as I once again ignite flames into my right hand, while reeling my arm back.

However this time instead of a concentrated fireball having been carefully aimed, I simply hurl a large fireball in the direction of the remaining targets, once again having a small shockwave kick up some dirt. As the fireball reaches the targets, it explodes destroying both targets at the same time.

Afterward I was then told to wait for my number to be called once again. Since the remaining number of people needing to finish this test was large, I was able to see many people’s magic and different ways of taking the test. Some people made slingshots or bows with their magic to hit the targets, others created longer limbs from their magic to hit the targets, some weren’t able to hit the targets at all.

The next thing I knew my number was once again being called for a test. As I walked up I noticed that the man managing the tests was standing next to a light blue crystal the size of a small car.

“For the last test, you will continue to cast any type of spell at this crystal until you either run out of magic or we say you can stop. Understand?” The man explained quickly, and after I nodded, spun around and walked back to the rest of the M.D.H. staff that were managing this part of the test.

“Alright, begin whenever you are ready!” He called out after a few moments. I nod before turning towards the crystal, blazing some flames in my right hand and throwing them straight at the crystal. As my flames hit the crystal, instead of dispersing, they were absorbed into the crystal.

“What the? Well, I guess if it absorbs magic then I can get a little crazy!” I exclaim before igniting more flames, coating both of my fists, lunging forward and slamming one of my flame covered fists into the crystal. However, as I did, the flames on my fist instantly died out, I stare wide eyed before coating my fist in more flames and striking the crystal once more.

I continue to rapidly strike the crystal with my flame covered fists continuously for nearly twenty minutes. Every time the crystal absorbed my fire I simply just ignited more flames and continued punching. It wasn’t until nearly thirty minutes had pasts before I was told to stop by the M.D.H. staff.

“I can keep going!” I assured making a fist pumping motion with a flames still on my fists.

“No it’s alright, you’ve done more than enough.” The test manager urged standing a few feet from me. I reluctantly walked back into the crowd of people and waited until the next part of the entrance exam begun.

As I watched the remaining testees complete the last portion of this section of the entrance exam, my mind wandered off into speculation.

What’s the rest of the test gonna be like? What effect do these tests have on my grade? Will I do the combat portion or the stats recording portion next?

With all of those and many more circling through my mind, one question continued to persist throughout them all.

“I wonder if I’ll get to find someone strong during this?”


	2. Having some fun.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron is continuing with his M.D.H entrance exam, and has moved on onto the final part of the test, combat scenarios.

A few hours have passed since the beginning of M.D.H. entrance exam, and the humid air was taking its toll on everyone. I have finished the first two portions of the exam, both of which I felt I did well on. It has been about five minutes since my group had been teleported to the last test and everyone was starting to get restless.

A few more minutes pass before the Principal himself warps in and addresses the group with a voice that wasn’t loud, but captivating. Everyone had stopped talking and looked up to the Principal, each conversation ended faster than they began, and silence filled the area before he spoke.

“Alright, soon the final part of the Entrance Exam will begin. For those of you who do not know what this test is I shall explain quickly.” The Principal began with a welcoming smile. Calling the Principal imposing would be an understatement of colossal means. He was tall, at least six and a half feet tall, with baby blue slicked back hair, he had piercing green eyes that could’ve stare through walls, coupled with his body frame itself being as solid or more than a pro boxer.

“This portion of the Entrance Exam will be a combat practical test. Do not worry about being crippled or hospitalized, we have several people with healing magic on standby, just in case. As well as each of your opponents will be randomized.” The Principal explained with his expression changing from the new next door neighbor, to a serious and powerful businessman.

“Well that makes me feel a little better… I guess…” I mutter to myself, scratching my cheek along with a small chuckle.

“Each one of you will fight three times, against three different people. Each match will have a time limit of fifteen minutes and if exceeded will be declared a draw. You can win a match by forcing your opponent to give up, immobilize them, or knocking them out. Now then, let’s begin!” The Principal finished with a booming voice change that made more than half of the crowd jump or flinch in response.

“Whoa!” I exclaim as a light green circle formed at my feet then flashed a bright light, forcing me to cover my eyes.

As the light died down, I lower my arm and glance around and see that I was teleported once more. The ground was now a flat dirt plain, with a small lectern to my left with a man standing behind it. Across from my was another person taking the exam who was just as, if not more, confused than me.

As I started to get my bearings, the man behind the lectern began to speak.

“This match will be between Aaron Lyran and Toby Williams! Are you both ready?” The man questioned in a bored, monotone voice.

“Yessir!” ‘Toby’ exclaimed as he shot both of his arms to his side. For my response I simply nod in affirmation.

“Alright, then 3… 2… 1… Begin!!” The man yelled as he raised his arm above his head then swiftly brought it down, signalling us to fight.

Instantly after the man finished the countdown, I kick off the ground and dashed towards Toby with my arms raised to my sides. In response, Toby lifts one of his arms with his palm outstretched with a slight white glow emitting from it. Before long, Toby fires a bright violet, volleyball sized energy ball from his outstretched hand, with it heading straight for me. I continue running towards Toby as his blast flies towards me, however as the blast reaches me, instead of dodging, I simply smack the energy ball away with my bare hand, making the energy ball crash into the ground.

Toby’s eyes widen before gritting his teeth, grabbing his outstretched arm with his other, and fired another energy ball. However this time the blast was twice the size of the first, was charging towards me much faster, and instead of a bright violet, the energy ball was a dark blue color with violet sparks arcing off of it.

‘He didn’t even have a charge up time for the stronger blast? He must be holding back…’ I say to myself as I close in on Toby and the fast approaching energy ball.

As the energy ball charges towards me, I clench my hand into a fist while starting to reel my arm back. As the blast reaches me, I heave my fist into it, sending the blast over my head and crashing into the ground once more. Toby raises his arm once more to fire off another attack, however before he could, I reach him. As I reach him, I clench my right hand into and fist and swing it into Toby’s side, while pivoting my foot to the right and kicking off the ground making me hit Toby while maneuvering to his back.

“Gah!” Toby grunts, moving a hand to where I punched him, while swinging his other arm around to blast me. However I simply swing my fist again, however this time aiming for Toby’s head. As my fist flies through the air towards his face, at the last second Toby ducked underneath my punch and lowered himself close to the ground.

I quickly glance downward at Toby and see him grinning to himself as his hand begins to glow once more. Instead of trying to dodge I flex out my fist I tried to hit Toby with, while at the same time igniting my flames, and coating my hand in them. However, instead of hurling the flames down, the force of ignition itself shot Toby face first into the ground knocking him out.

“Toby Williams has been knocked out, therefore Aaron Lyran has won this match!” The ref suddenly broke in startling me.

“Who is he even talking to? We don’t have any spectators…” I mumble to myself as I lower my arm back to my side after extinguishing my flames.

Before I could move from where I was standing, a green circle appeared below me once more along with a bright flash. As I was teleported, the first thing I noticed was that this new area was almost the exact same as before, with only two changes. The first being that the was a different referee behind the lectern and there was another person across from me.

“This match will be between Austin Brown and Aaron Lyran! Are you both ready to start?” The ref asked raising his arm above his head.

“Sure am!” Austin responds cheerfully. I only nod for my response.

“Alright, then 3… 2… 1… Begin!!” The man yelled as he swiftly brought down his raised arm, signalling us to fight.

I once again start off by kicking off the ground and dash towards Austin who had raised his arms above his head. Before I could get much closer to him, Austin quickly slams both of his hands down onto the ground, instantly making the ground below him extend outward in a rectangle shaped vine barreling towards me. As the ground appendage reaches me, I jump off the ground and land on top of it as it slams into the ground, indenting the ground as it did.

“I don’t think I want to see how strong this spell is first hand…” I joke to myself as I dash along the dirt and rock vine towards Austin. Before I could get closer to him, Austin slams his hands onto the base of the stone vine and instantly stone spikes burst out of every side forcing me to jump off.

‘This will only get harder the longer we fight…’ I whisper to myself while still in the air. As I land back on the ground I dash towards Austin once more, however this time I decide to move much faster than before, reaching Austin before he could cast another spell.

As soon as I get in reach, I reel my arm back, clench my hand, and tense up all the muscles in my arm before heaving my fist forward towards Austin. However, just as I start to bring my fist forward, Austin claps both of his hands together along with a bright orange glow surrounding them.

“Rock Iron Wall!” Austin yells before shoving both of his hands outwards. As he did, a perfect, fridge size, pillar of rock bursts from the ground in between me and Austin blocking my punch. However as I crash my fist into the pillar, the rock cracks and splinters.

“Ah!” I inhale sharply from the impact. Instead of removing my fist from the pillar, I continue to force my fist forward into the pillar. During this Austin’s eyes widen from seeing the pillar created crack. “RAH!!” I shout out igniting some flames and coting my fist in them.

As soon as the flames blazed, my fist surges forward and shatters through Austin’s spell and into his chest, resulting in Austin getting forced backwards and tumbling on the ground for several yards. ‘To think his spell weakened my attack that much.

'I should’ve hit him much harder than that.’ I mumble to myself as I stare down at my fist. A few moments pass before I notice Austin sluggishly raise himself to his knees. Before I could make any sort of action, Austin slams his free hand onto the ground.

“Enhance Earth Element!” Austin yells before brown glowing rocks cover his feet, shins and fists. I kick off the ground and dash towards him as he finishes. However, before I could move more than two feet, Austin blasts off the ground, maneuvers behind me and throws a punch aimed for my head in the span of two seconds.

I snap my eyes back just in time to see Austin’s punch, in response, I duck, dig my foot into the ground, pivot my ankle and hips, twist my body, lift my other leg off the ground and swing my foot into Austin’s head, while dodging his attack. Resulting in Austin falling down to the ground unconscious.

“Austin Brown has been knocked out, therefore Aaron Lyran has won this match!” The ref yelled out from the lectern. I turn to walk back towards to ref to ask him a question, but before my foot could leave the ground, once more, a green circle appears below me and coupled with a bright flash, I get teleported once more.

I am once again greeted by the exact same area with the only differences being a new ref behind a lectern and another person across from me.

“This is the final match for both Aaron Lyran, and Jacob Fried. Are you both ready to start?” The new ref practically mumbled out with his head resting on this hand. For a response both me and Jacob both nod in affirmation. However, this only seemed to irritate the ref as he raised a hand above his head.

“Alright. 3, 2, 1, go.” He deadpanned with a lazy chop of his raised hand.

I start off by kicking off the ground and making my way towards Jacob at a fast pace. In response, Jacob extends both of his arms outward with a large amount of wind swirling around him. Before long the surplus of wind started to spin into dozens of basketball sized orbs.

“Wind Bullets!” Jacob yells before thrusting his arms forward with all of the wind bullets surging forward as he did. Each one of the wind bullets were moving incredibly fast, by the time one of the wind bullets had reached me, I had only moved forward a couple feet.

As the wind bullets reach me I jump from one side to the other dodging multiple of them. I kick off the ground too dodge more, however as I did a different bullet slams into my face. Jacob then concentrated the remaining wind bullets to where I was hit before I could right myself, resulting in me getting bombarded by dozens of Jacob’s wind bullets.

As Jacob continues to fire off wind bullets at my position, the continuous attacks force me to cover my head with my arms, shut my eyes, start to tear my shirt, rip open parts of my jeans, and creating dozens of small cuts all over my body.

Damn! This guy is much tougher than I thought. But… his attacks hurt… they actually hurt... I say to myself in my head as a grin starts to form on my face. The fact that this guy’s attacks hurt… and how quickly he was to overwhelm me… It’s getting me excited! I exclaim in my head with a wide grin before snapping my eyes open, arcing my arms to my sides, and taking a large breath.

“Fire Dragon! Roar!” I shout out before a stream of crimson flames erupt from my mouth, blasts through Jacob’s wind bullets and surge towards and past him until they explode in a two-story house size explosion. As the my flame's die down, it reveals the ground where the stream of fire had traveled was charred and burnt, along with Jacob flat on his back with wide eyes staring at me.

“I-I I give up.” Jacob squeaked out as I straight up.

“Damn, I thought I could actually have a good fight. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to wait until the first day of school!” I grinned as I leisurely put by hands behind my head.

“Oh! J-Jacob Fried has given up. Therefore Aaron Lyran has won this match.” The ref stammered out after a few moments of silence, almost as if he was confused at what had happened.


	3. Moving In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Aaron passes the Mystic Domain Highschool entrance exam, his family later received a letter saying that he will be moving into dorms at the very latest, the beginning of the school year.

The remaining summer months flew by faster than Aaron could’ve prepared for. With the combination of training, visiting the M.D.H. campus, getting his class schedule and homeroom, and preparing to move into the M.D.H. dormitories, it was as if Summer flew by in the blink of an eye. Aaron's training every day consisted of 1,500 push-ups, 1,500 sit-ups,1,500 squats, 1,500 pull-ups, and a two hour run. With that, along with everything else he had to do, one could say he didn't have much free time. 

 

As Aaron dropped the last bag of his belongings into the trunk, he couldn’t help but feel excited for the school year to begin and find out who would be in his classes. After closing the trunk, getting into the passenger seat and buckling up, it wasn’t long until they reached the dorms. Before Aaron could open the door and begin lugging up his bags to his given room, he felt a hand on his shoulder stopping him.

 

“Now Aaron, I know you’re excited but remember if there’s anything you need, I’m only a phone call away.” Aaron’s brother Sam began with a look of worry on his face. Sam was three years older than Aaron, and about two inches taller, had short, combed back hair, brown eyes, and a lean build. At first glance the two looked just like brothers, but the way each carried themselves told a different story.

 

“I know Sam. Just give it a rest, you’re acting like Mom.” Aaron waved off, shrugging the hand off his shoulder.

 

“Am I?!”

 

“Yes, you are. I wanted you to drive me so I wouldn’t have to deal with Mom being all sappy, but I guess you’re doing it for her.” Aaron explained looking at his brother with irritation flashing in his eyes.

 

“Oh whatever! Just get out of my car already!” Sam huffed turning back to the front of the car.

  
“I’m going. I’m going!”

 

“But seriously Aaron, if you need help, don’t hesitate to give me a call.” Sam reminded with sincerity in his voice and eyes.

 

“I will, cya later Sam.” Aaron waved a hand not looking back, but with a small smile on his face as he walked around to the back of the car.

 

And with that, the pair of siblings say goodbye for now and with mixed emotions for the future, a new start begins for the both of them. Aaron looks upwards at the building he’ll be staying at for the next four years, with this section of the dorms being six stories tall, having a small front grass area, a flat dirt field in the back, and glass sliding doors leading to a common area with a kitchen, living room, dining area, bathrooms, and elevators leaving to the girl and boys sides of the dorms. The boys on the right, and the girls on the left.

 

After Sam had dropped Aaron off at the dorms, the next hour and a half for Aaron would be spent finding his room, lugging his bags up into his room, and getting everything set up they way he wanted.

 

After that, Aaron would spent another few hours arranging and rearranging his room until he was satisfied with the results. His room ended up having his bed in the back right corner, with the end of his bed pointing to the wall with the door. A wooden and plastic desk in the opposite corner decorated with his laptop, clock, backpack, swivel chair, and a small torch. Along with a punching bag hanging from a hook from the ceiling, with chains securing it to the floor, making it so it won't hit the walls. And finally with a small set of weights next to the door.

 

“That should do it!” Aaron huffed as he swiped sweat off his forehead.

 

“Maybe I’ll head down to the common area to see what the kitchens like. Maybe make some food.” Aaron decided after hearing his stomach rumble. 

 

Aaron then exited his room and used to elevator at the end of the hallway to the first floor. After pressing the button for the ground floor, and a quick wait, Aaron exited the elevator and headed for the kitchen. However, just as he did something soft yet firm smacked right into him, making him fall to the ground with a thud.

 

“WAH!!” A voice exclaim, coupled with another thud and two small bags hitting the ground. Aaron quickly opened his eyes, and immediately saw a girl around the same age as him, also on the ground.

 

The girl had a fairly filled out frame, electric blue eyes that matched her light blue, shoulder length hair. She was wearing slightly ripped navy blue jeans and shoes, along with a purple shirt underneath a loose fitting gray jacket.

 

“Oh, crap! I’m sorry, I didn’t think anyone else would be here yet.” Aaron apologized, pushing up to his feet and extending out his hand to help the girl up.

 

“I-It’s fine! I’ll just go find my room!” The girl stammered out, grabbing onto Aaron's hand and lifting herself onto her feet before grabbing the two bags on the floor and heading down the hallway.

 

“Alright, if you get hungry after come on down, I’ll be making some food.” Aaron called out to the girl as she walked down the hallway, before turning and making his way to the common area.

 

“Thank you for the offer.” The girl replied, briefly stopping and looking back, before walking to her assigned room.

 

“I thought the guy at the front office told me that I would be the only student here before the start of the year? Well, I guess he was wrong.” Aaron said to himself and he scratched the back of his head, before making to the kitchen.

 

After the encounter, Aaron briskly checked all the shelfs, drawers, and cupboards looking at what he can use for cooking before he checked the fridge only to see that it was practically empty. The only things in the fridge were some bottled water and a cup of yogurt.

 

“Damn… looks like I’m going shopping, but I guess that makes sense. I should probably go let that girl know, just in case she comes down and sees that I've gone.” Aaron huffed after seeing the empty pantry and cupboards, before exiting the kitchen and heading to the hallway where he bumped into the girl. 

 

“Hey! There isn’t anything to cook with in the fridge so I’m going shopping, I’ll be back soon.” Aaron called down the hallway, almost yelling to make sure the girl heard him. Since he didn't know which room was hers.

 

“Wait!” The girl blurted out before Aaron could leave, coming out of her room.

 

“What’s up?” Aaron asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

“I’ll go with you! I want to make it up to you for startling you.”

 

“Oh! Don’t worry about that, and if you want to I guess you could come.”

 

“Alright! By the way, I’m Katelyn. Katelyn Yang.”

 

“Aaron Lyran. It’s a pleasure.”

 

Afterwards, Aaron and Katelyn made their way out of the dorms and made the fifteen minutes walk into town. The entire time they only made small talk until they made it to the convenience store and were debating on what to buy.

 

“We should buy some hot pockets and poptarts for quick snacks when we don’t feel like cooking.”

 

“Good idea! How’s this, you’ll go get snacks and microwavable foods, while I’ll go get cooking ingredients. Sound good?”

 

“Yeah, let’s meet up at the front of the store when we’re done.”

 

And with that, they were off. Katelyn went to one end of the store and got hot pockets, poptarts, bags of chips, string cheese, and several other snack foods. While Katelyn did that, Aaron went to the other side of the store and got eggs, milk, flour, hamburger, sugar, chicken, bacon, several fruits and vegetables, bread, cheese, shredded cheese, multiple spices, and at least half a dozen sauces.

 

After they had both gotten what they said they’d get, had met up at the front of the store like they agreed and Katelyn couldn’t help but be a little surprised at how much Aaron had decided to buy.

 

“What? I said I’d buy things to cook with.”

 

“Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d buy that much! How can you afford all that?”

 

“Well, my mom and brother gave me some money before I moved into the dorms.”

 

“Damn, I wish my family did that…”

 

“Come on now, let’s get back to the dorms. We’re burning daylight.”

 

And with that behind them, Aaron and Katelyn got bags for everything they bought, and started back to the dorms. As they made their way back to the dorms, Aaron noticed that Katelyn was struggling to carry the bags on each of her arms, each one almost overflowing.

 

“Here, gimme these.”

 

“What no, it’s ok I’m fine.”

 

“I know you are, it’s just we need to get some of this stuff into the fridge soon and we need to hurry up.”

 

“Ok I guess. Although I think it’ll be hard to carry nearly two dozen bags of food.”

 

“What are you waiting for Katelyn? Lets go!”

 

‘How can he carry all of that by himself with no problem?!’

 

After Aaron and Katelyn made it back to the dorms, Aaron began cooking while Katelyn began to sort everything they bought into the fridge and pantry.

 

Katelyn was in the middle of closing the pantry door when the scent of crisp chicken and sizzling spices filled her nostrils making her snap towards the origin of the smell. Only to be greeted by Aaron, with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his messy black hair tied back with a hair tie, and steam rolling off a pan and into the air, filling the room with the scent that made Katelyn look in the first place.

 

‘That smells so good! I didn’t peg him for a cook.’

 

“Hey Katelyn! Do you prefer cinnamon or ginger?”

 

“Huh? O-Oh! Cinnamon please!”

 

“Alright, if you wouldn’t mind, could you get a few plates set up? It’s almost done.”

 

“Sure.”

 

As Katelyn finished setting up plates for each of them, Aaron split up the servings so that they both got half. Katelyn couldn’t help but marvel at the plate of food before her, it was baked chicken cut into nice bite size pieces, with cinnamon baked cherry tomatoes with salted apple bits on the side.

 

“I hope ya like it!”

 

“Like it? It’s delicious! How did you learn to cook so well?”

 

“Well I was the cook of the house since I could reach the oven top. So I guess I just learned what mixes and what doesn’t.”

 

“Thank you very much!”

 

“No problem. I’m gonna head to my room now, I’ll cya later Katelyn!”

 

“Alright Good night!”

 

And with that, Aaron went to his room and began to train a small bit, while Katelyn went to her room, took out her phone and began spilling her guts out to her friend about the day. As the night began to creep in and they both got ready for bed, the same thought echoed in both of their minds before the fell asleep.

 

“I hope I can hang out with them some more.”


	4. Mission License Exam

It has been about three months since Mr. Fernandez had told Aaron’s seventh period, Magic Training, class about the Mission License Test and that he had signed all of them up for it. Each one of them were excited for the test and what they would be allowed to do if they pass the test. If they pass the test, they will be allowed to go on school missions in teams.

School Missions are basically natural issues that the government lets magic training schools take care of. It can range from getting rid of some magic mutated wildlife, helping people get rid of magical animals, explore new dungeons that have appeared, to stopping magical animals from rampaging.

During school, every other day in Aaron’s seventh period was used for studying for the written section of the test, while the other days and after school, everyone was training up a storm in preparation. And the result of all of that was the three months before the test went by quicker than most of the class realized.

As the days flew by, the date of the Mission License Test had arrived and everyone was on the way to the testing grounds, making the trip via bus that Mr. Fernandez had gotten for the day. The ride from M.D.H. to the testing grounds took about thirty minutes and during that time most of the class decided to chat to pass the time.

“What do you think the practical portion of the test will be?” Jordan asked leaning back in his seat, looking behind him at the rest.

“Who knows, all we know is what is going to be covered on the written portion.” Serena commented looking out the window, resting her head in her hand.

“I’d bet money that they’ll have us fight another person taking the test!” Mori broke in with a fist pumping motion coupled with a large grin.

“Oh shut up! You know damn well they won’t!” Nicole deflected giving Mori a playful smack across the back of his head from behind.

“How ‘bout you Aaron?” Katelyn asked with a small smile turning towards Aaron who was seated across the aisle from her.

“Say wha?” Aaron replied snapping out of his thoughts, shaking his head and turning towards Katelyn.

“What do you think they’ll have us do for the practical portion of the test?” Serena repeated looking away from the window, resting her arm on Katelyn’s shoulder, and towards Aaron.

“Hmm… No idea!” Aaron stated with a finger over his chin before giving his answer with a toothy grin while looking back at the two girls, making each of them sigh as if they knew that would be his answer.

“Should you really be that carefree? This is an important test that the school is paying for!” Derek cautioned from his seat next to him, looking at Aaron with his eyebrows raise, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“No matter what they throw at me, I’ll take it head on!” Aaron claimed gripping his hand into a fist with determination in his voice.

“You’re really  _ too _ carefree sometimes, you know that?” Derek deadpanned turning to the window.

“Shaddap!” Aaron spat out gritting his teeth at Derek who only continued to look out the window. Only irritating him more, resulting in Katelyn and Serena giggling at the two.

It wasn’t long before the bus had reached the testing grounds and everyone had filed off and stood in front of the large building. It looked similar to a football stadium with high walls, lights shining into the center, with towering porcelain and crimson colored walls. 

As the class made their way into the building, they were immediately surprised at how small the testing group was for the exam, with it only being about one hundred people, including the fifteen of them.

“Don’t acted like it was unexpected. This test is known for have a very low passing rate.” Mr. Fernandez smirked as he took notice of the class’s surprise, while putting his hands in his pockets.

“Then do you think all of us will be able to pass? I mean, since the pass rate is so low...” Paylong muttered out as the reality slowly began to hit the rest of the class.

“Of course. I have full faith in all of you that you’ll pass. The only thing is, do you have faith in yourself? If not, believe in the me that believes in you!” Mr. Fernandez assured clapping his hands together snapping everyone out of their thoughts, finishing with a comforting smile and a hand over his heart. Despite the small gesture, it had raised the spirits of the class back to what they were before.

Afterwards, each of the class was sorted into different testing rooms for the written portion. As the written portion of the test was about the begin, one thought flashed through the entire class’s minds at the same time.

_ “I’ve got this! I will pass this exam!” _

======================================================================

As Aaron finished his test, he handed it in and left the testing room and was told to meet up with the rest of his class in the front room, and wait for the practical portion of the test to begin.

Aaron rounded a corner to the front room and was instantly greeted by several people from his class. Those being Mori, Marilyn, Julie, Katelyn, Serena, Derek, and Jackson. Each one greeted Aaron as he made his way into the room and congratulated him on finishing the test.

“Man, the test was all over the place!” Aaron complained slumping down next to Katelyn on a couch in the front room.

“Well it’s over now right.” Katelyn encouraged smiling as she leaned forward while looking back at Aaron.

“I guess, how long until the practical portion starts?” Aaron wondered out loud glancing around the room noticing that there wasn’t anyone else in the room except for them.

“They said until either the rest of our class finishes or everyone else taking the test finishes.” Marilyn replied from her chair across the room while reading a book she brought with her. Aaron simply groaned at the answer and chatted with Katelyn, Serena and Derek about their other classes to try and pass the time.

While they waited, more and more of the class progressively finished their tests and joined in waiting for the practical portion to start. Some of the class began to voice their nervousness for the test and others started doing multiple rituals or techniques to try and calm down as they continued to wait. After waiting for what felt like hours, the rest of the class finished their tests and then were told to go down the hall and into a wide open field.

The field itself was at least the size of a football field, made completely of dirt and stone, with dozens of rocks protruding out of the ground and into the air for several feet, and surrounding it were hundreds maybe thousands of seats for people.

“Ahem! The practical portion of the Mission License test will begin shortly! As for what the test will be, you each will have to demonstrate your ability to defend yourself, your combat prowess or both!” A voice boomed out from speakers around the stadium. As he spoke, everyone stopped their conversations and turned their attention the disembodied voice. After he finished multiple conversations broke out about how they would deal with how the test would be graded, and which one would be easier.

“Now will Aaron Lyran please make their way to the middle of the field!” The voice boomed out once again after a minute of silence causing some of the class to jump. 

“Awesome! I’m first.” Aaron exclaimed, gripping his hands into fists, before popping his neck and walking to the field.

“Good luck Aaron!” Katelyn cheered out with a smile, waving her hand as he walked.

“You’ve got this!” Serena added with a raised fist and a determined spark flashing in her eyes.

“Don’t you dare fail, if you do I’ll never let you live it down.” Derek joked with his arms crossed.

As Aaron made his way to the center of the field, a bright blue glow outlined and surrounded the entire area, and made a magic barrier as tall as the area, between his class and the field. At the same time, the ground below around began to shake and a figure began to form out from the ground. As the ground stopped shaking, the figure formed into a towering height at least fifteen feet off the ground, looked as if it had armor covering its entire body, and stood as if it was a gorilla with its fists resting on the ground.

“To pass this test, you must destroy the golem with your magic, defend it’s assault for thirty minutes, or make it unable to continue fighting. Begin!”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Up at the observing deck, where Mr. Fernandez and the judges of the test, were watching and discussing what they think the outcomes will be.

“I don’t think this kid stands a chance, I mean look at him! He’s just a punk. And I don’t sense anything out of the ordinary with his magic.” One of the judges voice out with his arms crossed. Mr. Fernandez only grinned and chuckled at the thought.

“What? You think I’m wrong?” The judge asked Mr. Fernandez with a irritated glare. In response Mr. Fernandez closed his eyes, and shook his head.

“No, I don’t. You are right, his magic power is nothing to write home about, not right now. But, the moment you underestimate him, is the moment you lose.” Mr. Fernandez claimed as he opened his eyes and peered down at Aaron and the Golem, confusing the judges as they stared down as well.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Immediately after the announcer finished, the golem shifted its weight onto its arms and swung its legs out from between them making a beeline for Aaron. It didn’t take the golem long to get close to Aaron. As the golem reached him, it raised both of its huge arms above itself and began to heave them down at Aaron.

However, as the golem began to attack, Aaron twisted his foot into the ground, cracking the stone, before launching himself off the ground at a blistering speed, and slamming his bare fist into the golem’s face. The impact forcing the golem tumbling backwards as if it was made of paper.

As Aaron landed back onto the ground he looked at his now bruised hand, then to the golem, then back to his hand, then shook his hand.  _ Ok… if I hit it that hard too many times, I’ll just end up breaking my hand. _

Aaron then dashed towards the golem, who was kneeling on one of its knees to support itself. The golem noticed Aaron before he could reach it, then launched one of its large fists at him. In response, Aaron jumped off the ground, having the golem’s fist slam into the ground as he soared towards the golem still in mid air. Reeling his right leg back, Aaron ignited his flames and coated his foot at the same time.

“Fire Dragon Talon!” Aaron hollered out blasting his foot forward and crashing into the golem’s face. Right as his foot connected, Aaron reeled back his opposite arm back, gripping his hand into a fist, coating it in flames and slamming his fist into the golem once more.

“Fire Dragon Claw!” Aaron yelled out at his fist crashed into the golems face. The force of the impact forcing the two apart, with Aaron skidding across the ground for several seconds, while the golem only had his head forced back and straightened itself. 

Aaron peered over at the golem to see a large indent on the right side of the golem’s face, and two burnt portions on the other side of its head. However, the golem showed no other signs of damage from the three attacks.

“Damn, it looks like this thing can take a hit pretty well.” Aaron cursed under his breath as he shifted into stance. Before he could do anything else, the golem raised both of its large arms above his head and slammed them into the ground. However, instead of cracking or damaging the ground, the ground bulged and dozens of spires made of rock bursted from the ground and surged towards Aaron at breakneck speeds. 

As Aaron saw the spires of rock surge towards him, his eyes widen as he thought _ ‘Oh shit!,’  _ before taking in a large breath of air tilting his head back as he did, along with flames igniting around his face. 

“Fire Dragon Roar!” Aaron roared out with a river of flames erupting from his mouth and blasting towards the golem’s attack. As each other’s attacks collide they explode in a mixture of smoke and dust that covered both the golem’s and Aaron’s view of each other. 

A few moments pass before thunderous steps echo throughout the area, and then the golem emerges through the smoke and dust cloud, arms raised, about to slam into Aaron. In response he launched himself off the ground and slightly backwards as the golem’s arms crashed into the ground, kicking up a mound of dust.

Just as Aaron began to fall back down to the ground, the golem’s fist swung out from the dust cloud, slamming into Aaron, sending him flying towards the barrier around the field. As Aaron slammed into the barrier, he simply bounced off, with large ripples vibrating through it.

“Ack!” Aaron coughed out, with a pained look in his eye after bouncing off the barrier. However, before he began to descend down to the ground, Aaron grit his teeth, forced his head forward and kicked off the barrier as hard as he could, launching himself at the golem.

“Fire Dragon Horn Blade!” Aaron howled out, flames blazing around him, then enveloping his entire body. The force of the flames blasting Aaron forward at greater speeds until he collided with the golem, creating a large explosion.

As the golem topples over from his attack, Aaron emerges from the smoke, skidding to a stop as he lands. A few moments pass before the smoke clears and reveals the golem standing back up, with the only signs of damage being the burnt dirt and stone on its chest.

“Damn! This thing can take a hit better than I thought…” Aaron groaned out before blazing his fist in more flames. The golem once again started to advance on Aaron, slamming a large fist into the ground, narrowly missing him. Aaron then kicked off the ground, avoiding another attack, before barraging the golem with dozens of fireballs. However, the golem simply swung its large fist at Aaron once more, cracking the back of its hand off Aaron, sending him backwards.

“At this rate, I’m going to run out of magic before I destroy this thing!” Aaron mumbled to himself, shaking off the pain from the blow. After another round of dodging and attacking Aaron began to think of what to do.

“I guess I’ll have to destroy it in one massive blow if I’m gonna pass.” Aaron decided before grinning wildly as he dodged another of the golem’s fists. As he landed, Aaron bent his knees, crossed his arms in an ‘X’ shape, before a tower of flames erupted from below and surrounded his entire body, soaring upwards dozens of feet, while making the golem stop its advance. As the golem stopped, the pillar of flames shape changed, it resembled a dragon before the flames begun to concentrate in Aaron’s fists.

“Fire Dragon-Secret Arts!” Aaron roared, arching both fists to his right. The tower of flames having condensed into two swirling infernos around his fists.

“Crimson Scales: Swirling Fire Fang!” Aaron roared once more, twisting his body, and swiping both of his fists in a circle, with two torrents of flames blasting out, each end meeting the other to create a vortex of crimson flames rocketing towards the golem. 

In response, the golem then slams both arms into the ground, spires of stone bursting out and blasting towards Aaron’s attack, far larger and more numerous than before.

As each other’s attacks meet, Aaron’s attack cuts right through the stone spires and crashes into the golem, erupting in a massive explosion making the entire arena shake.

As the smoke clears, it reveals Aaron still standing, panting heavily from using so much magic, and the golem having been completely destroyed by Aaron’s attack.

“Alright! Take that!” Aaron bursted out laughing with his arms in the air. The entire class then began to cheer for him, with Aaron celebrating for a few more seconds before falling flat onto his back.


	5. First Mission

“Would you please send Aaron Lyran, Serena Heart, and Caliose Gang to room 1015?” The classroom speaker suddenly broke in, making everyone turn their heads to the three who were called. After getting a nod of affirmation from their teacher, the three shrugged their shoulders and made their way out of the classroom and began walking to the room said to go to.

“What do you think they want us for?” Serena wondered out loud resting her hands behind her head as she walked.

“I don’t know, we haven’t done anything spectacular or wrong recently.” Caliose replied raising a hand to his chin, his brow furring in thought.

“We’ll know when we get there.” Aaron simply said turning to the two who were walking behind him, before turning back and walking down the hallway.

After that, the conversation ended and no one said anything for the entire ten minute walk to room 1015. When they arrived, the trio was greeted by two M.D.H. faculty members, one with a clipboard with a nametag the said Mr. Marks, and another typing on a computer with a nametag that said Mr. Riley.

“We’re here.” Caliose announced as we walked through the doors. As they walked in, the room was empty except for one desk, computer, and a large magic circle drawn in the center of the room.

“Ah, good.” Mr. Marks said looking up from his clipboard.

“So why were the three of us called here?” Serena asked putting her hands in her pockets.

“Each of your applications for a school mission have been approved.” Mr. Marks explained placing the clipboard down and turning towards the three.

“Awesome! But then why are specifically the three of us here?” Serena asked after a small outburst of joy.

“Because the three of you all signed up for the same mission. Boar beating.” Mr. Riley spoke up without looking up from his computer.

“Before we send the three of you to the mission location, first understand we can’t teleport you freely once you are at the mission location. Only where you first arrive is where we can teleport you.” Mr. Marks began detailing as he spoke to the three with a serious expression.

“This is because the mission location is not accessible to the public and we don’t want random people getting in there.” Mr. Riley explained before any questions could be asked.

“Alright, so what specifically do we have to do once we get there.” Caliose asked raising an eyebrow.

“Well, you’ll be in charge of beating all of the magically mutated boars in the area and the alpha boar that has been spotted there as well.” Mr. Marks read off after picking up his clipboard.

“Once you have defeated the alpha boar, just like the other mutated boars, its body will disappear but the alpha will leave behind a condensed magic stone. You are also to retrieve the stone and bring it back here.” Mr. Riley continued with a slight change in his voice. The three simply understood since it was important for the school to get the magic stone.

“Alright, let’s go!” Aaron exclaimed punching a fist into his palm.

“Ready? Work together, watch each other’s backs, and keep each other safe. Good luck!” Mr. Marks urged as the three stepped into the magic circle. Right after he finished the magic circle beamed to life, with a bright light that made all three cover their eyes as they were teleported.

After the bright light had died away, the trio were no longer at M.D.H. but instead they were surrounded by a thick forest with scattered clearings in all directions.

“Alright! Let’s get to hunting!” Aaron exclaimed raising a fist into the air.

“Caliose, you’re up!” Serena directed turning to face him.

“What do you mean?” Caliose asked scratching his head. Serena only rolled her eyes at his question.

“You obviously have the best magic sensing ability here, so use it to find the boars!” Aaron broke in giving Caliose a determined look coupled with a grin. After a moment, Caliose shook his head and took a deep breath before answering.

“Alright, here goes.” Caliose began before closing his eyes and focusing his magic into sensing all other magic in the area as far as he could. After a few moments of silence, Caliose opened his eyes and turned began making his way north.

“There’s one directly this way!” Caliose disclosed as the other two began to run with him, heading into the trees.

“Lets get it!” Serena yelled as she sprinted to catch up to Caliose, with Aaron close behind.

As the three of them push their way through the forest for about a minute and a half, they came across one of the scattered clearings. And standing in the middle of the clearing, stomping on the dirt, was a magically mutated boar.

The boar itself was at least the size of a car, each one of its tusks bigger than an average person. It’s fur was a deep brown, with its eyes being nothing but a milky white without pupils. While its head and back had fur that looked more like metal fillings than fur that stood on end.

“Alright, first we should try and —” Caliose began before being cut off by Aaron dashing towards the boar. As Aaron closed in, the boar took notice, and after kicking back one of its back hooves, charged towards Aaron.

Right as the two reached each other, Aaron thrusted out both of his hands, grabbing the boar’s tusks, stopping it dead in its tracks.

“Fire Dragon: Roar!” Aaron called out before flames erupted from his mouth, and consumed the entire boar except for its tusks. But, as the flames dissipated, it revealed the boar, seemingly having taken no damage. Aaron continued by shoving the boar back onto its hind legs, before leaping into the air above the boar and coating his fist in flames.

“Fire Dragon: Claw!” Aaron called out before slamming his flame covered fist onto the boar’s back. However, once again the boar seemed unfazed by the attack and simply swiped its tusks at Aaron, missing only by a narrow margin.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” Caliose shouted as Aaron landed just in front of Caliose and Serena. “We should’ve come up with a plan to figure out its weaknesses before charging in! You could’ve gotten hurt!”

“What? Now we know not to attack it by the front or above, and that I can hold it in place without using magic.” Aaron replied giving Caliose a look of confusion. Caliose could only stare at Aaron, unable to believe what he just said.

“It’s about to charge!” Serena broke in, snapping the two back into reality, as the boar charged forward with its tusks aimed for Aaron and Caliose.

Before Caliose could move out of the way, Aaron bolted forward, once again grabbing the boar’s tusks, stopping the charge.

“Attack!” Aaron yelled through clenched teeth, as his feet dug into the ground, tightening his grip on the boar’s tusks. As he finished, lightning began arcing all across Serena’s body before she leapt over a dozen feet into the air, while Caliose ran around to the other side of the boar.

“Go for its sides! Heaven's Power: Cannon!” Caliose ordered before multiple bright, violet purple blasts shot from his hand and crashed into the boar.

“Heaven Ward: Javelin!” Serena called out mid air, before six, five foot rods of lightning formed around her and shot forward, crashing into the boar’s other side. 

The combined efforts causing the boar to howl out in pain from both attacks, at the same time weakening its pushing force. Aaron noticed this, and took the opportunity by, gripping the tusks tight, gritting his teeth, twisting around and hurling the boar into the air, before blazing each of his arms in flames.

“Fire Dragon: Wing Strike!” Aaron called out swiping his arms forward and back, sending a torrent of flames up at the boar, before exploding on contact. As the boar fell out of the smoke cloud made by Aaron’s attack, it crashed to the ground not moving. The three move closer but prepare to attack just in case, before the boar’s body begins to glow and fade away, until it disappears.

Right after the boar disappears, Caliose marches over to Aaron and grabs him by his collar, “What the hell were you thinking?!” He yelled, giving Aaron a glare at the same time. “We should’ve played it safe, and found out its weaknesses from a distance!” Caliose continued to yell, before Aaron grabbed his wrist and slowly removed Caliose’s hand from his collar.

“Hey, calm down. I rushed in because we have to clear out this entire forest of those boars.” Aaron began to explain with Caliose ripping his hand from Aaron’s grip. “Now we have a way of beating the boars. I hold it still while you and Serena attack from the sides, after that, I hurl it into the air and attack from below.” Aaron continued despite Caliose’s irritated expression.

“Hey now, yes it was stupid to do that, but it did get us a way to quickly beat the boars. Could you try and find some more Caliose?” Serena walked up before Caliose could object, casting a serious look at the two boys. A few moments pass before Caliose sighs, closes his eyes and after a minute, opened his eyes and began heading east.

“There’s a few more this way, come on.” Caliose begrudgingly said, with Aaron and Serena close behind.

As they move through the forest once more, they reach another clearing and this time spot two mutated boars instead of one. They quickly crouched down into some bushes to avoid being spotted.

“Alright, let’s get the attention of one and hit it hard. Aaron, after we hit the first boar, the second will charge as well. Could you throw the first boar at the second?” Caliose told Aaron and Serena who quickly nodded. They then used Serena’s lighting magic to get one of the boars looking in their direction before Aaron shot out of the bushes and dashes towards the boar. 

Immediately after Aaron emerged from the bushes, the boar charged forward before being stopped dead in its tracks by Aaron. 

“Now!” Aaron yelled as Serena and Caliose both emerge from the bushes and dash around the boar preparing to attack.

“Heaven's Power: Cannon!” Caliose called out with multiple blasts of bright, violet purple energy fired from his hands and crashed into the side of the boar.

“Heaven Ward: Javelins!” Serena called out with six rods of lightning forming around her before crashing into the other side of the boar. As both attacks were fired at the first boar, the second boar began to charge.

Right after their attacks hit, the first boar’s pushing force weakens, allowing Aaron to turn, twist and hurl the first boar through the air and slam into the second boar, causing both to topple over.

“Hit them hard! Fire Dragon: Roar!” Aaron shouted out before flames erupted from his mouth and barreled towards the boars.

“Heaven Ward: Cannon Fire!” Serena called out creating orbs of lightning in each hand before combining the two, doubling the orb’s size, and blasted towards the boars.

“Heaven’s Power: Punishment!” Caliose called out drawing an omega symbol in the air before a volley of violet purple blasts fired from the omega sign and towards the boars.

As each attack reaches the boars, the resulting explosion causes Aaron, Caliose and Serena to cover their faces until the dust and wind died down. As the dust settled, both boars had already disappeared being replaced by a large crater.

“I think that was a bit overkill.” Serena admitted as she looked at the crater formed by their triple attack. Aaron simply laughed as Caliose shook his head.

“Now we know not to do that again!” Aaron grinned as he turned to Serena and Caliose. Serena chuckled and nodded her head while Caliose had his eyes closed searching for more boars.

After that, the three students spent the next hour and a half finding and beating boars all over the forest. Each time they fought a boar, the did the same method each time. Aaron grabs and holds the boar still, while Serena and Caliose moved to the side and attacked, after that Aaron used the opportunity created by the others, to throw the boar into the air, or at another boar and finished it up. Each encounter they had, they made sure not to use too much magic energy, kept the others safe, and watched the others blind spots.

It wasn’t until the tail end of their second hour of boar hunting that they finally came across the alpha boar they were told about. The alpha was at least the size of a truck, with sharper tusks, had the same overall look of the other boars, except for where its tusks began, it had what looked like flames spilling out of its face.

“That has to be the alpha Mr. Marks told us about.” Serena marvelled at the alpha boar from the bushes that kept them hidden from view.

“Yeah, let’s take it down!” Aaron grinned punching his palm with a fist.

“Alright, lets first test and see if Aaron can hold it still like the others.” Caliose decided turning towards the others and with them agreeing with his plan.

After shifting into position, Aaron emerged from the bushes and bolted towards the alpha boar with his arms ready, with Serena and Caliose dashing out from the bushes just after him. As the alpha boar noticed Aaron running towards it, it let out a deafening howl before charging forward faster than any other boars the three have fought before.

As the two reached each other, Aaron grabbed hold of the alpha boar’s tusks stopping it dead, with the force of the two creating a small shockwave. A few moments of struggling pass before the alpha boar began to force Aaron backwards.

“Aaron fall back! It’s too strong for you!” Caliose barked as he saw Aaron being overpowered, with only a toothy grin appearing on Aaron’s face as he heard Caliose.

“Like hell it is!” Aaron howled, stomping his feet into the ground and began pushing back against the alpha boar. Gritting his teeth, the veins of his arms bulging out, Aaron tightened his grip on the alpha boar’s tusks so much that they began to crack, and began forcing the alpha boar back.

“What are you waiting for?! Attack!” Aaron shouted as he stopped forcing the alpha boar back and held it still, the sudden outburst snapping Serena and Caliose back to reality.

“Heavan’s: Cannon!” Caliose called out with multiple blasts of bright, violet purple energy fired from his hands and crashed into the alpha boar.

“Heaven Ward: Javelins!” Serena called out with six rods of lightning forming around her before crashing into the other side of the alpha.

Despite the attacks from both sides, the alpha boar’s strength didn’t weaken, if anything the attacks only made it push harder against Aaron. A few moments pass as Serena and Caliose prepare to attack again, before the alpha boar suddenly surges forward, slamming into Aaron sending him flying back.

“Ack!” Aaron coughed out, blood flying out of his mouth as he slammed hard into a tree, before falling down to the ground, supported by his knees. 

“Aaron!” Serena and Caliose both scream, dashing over to see if he was alright. After reaching him, Serena immediately checks his chest to see if any bones were broken, before signing in relief not finding any.

“What do we—” Caliose began before the alpha boar let out an ear splitting howl, forcing Serena and Caliose to cover their ears, before rocketing towards the trio like a bullet. Caliose managed to fling himself out of the way, while Serena dived barely managing to grab Aaron, pulling him close her chest, as the alpha boar crashed through the tree and into the forest.

As the alpha boar crashed into the forest, Caliose sprang up to his knees, wide eyed, breathing hard.  _ ‘How the hell did it move that fast?! We can’t compete with that!’ _ Caliose panicked with sweat pouring down his face.

After diving out of the way, and grabbing Aaron, Serena tumbled for multiple feet, before rolling to a stop on top of Aaron, her breathing rapid and fast.  _ ‘If I was just a tiny bit slower… Aaron would’ve been killed…’ _ Serena shook as she tightened her hold on Aaron, sitting up a slight bit, the image flashing through her head.

However, neither of them got to rest before the alpha boar began to thrash about in the forest. Both Serena and Caliose turning their heads, lips quivering, tears starting to form in the corners of their eyes, before the alpha boar rocketed through the trees and barreled towards Serena and Aaron.

“Serena! Aaron!” Caliose yelled at the top of his lungs as he watched the alpha boar make a beeline towards the two. Serena could only stare and hold onto Aaron as the alpha boar closed in, ready to thrust its tusks into them.

However, just as the alpha boar got within ten feet of the two, Serena was suddenly flung to the side. As she sailed through the air, her eyes widen as she saw that Aaron had thrown her. 

Right as the alpha boar reached where Aaron was, a sudden shockwave erupts, kicking up dust in every direction. Serena tumbling multiple feet before stopping and whipping her head up just in time to see the alpha boar reach Aaron, before the shockwave erupts.

“Sorry about scaring you, Serena. You too Caliose.” Aaron spoke up as the dust settles, revealing Aaron with a alpha boar’s head crashed into his chest with the arm he used to toss Serena extended, and the other gripping tight on the alpha’s tusk, a wide grin on his face, with blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. “To make it up to you, I’ll handle this one myself. So sit back and enjoy the show!”

“Fire Dragon: Talon!” Aaron called out blazing flames on his foot, before swinging his leg upward, slamming his foot into the alpha boar’s chin. The force of the impact causing the alpha boar to lift into the air, exposing its underside.

“Fire Dragon: Claw!” Aaron called out, fire erupting and coating his arm, before crashing his fist into the alpha boar’s gut. The impact sending the alpha boar flying backwards and crashing through multiple trees before coming to a stop.

Serena and Caliose could only stare in awe as Aaron practically took the full force of the alpha boar’s charge, said ‘ow’ and then proceed to punch the alpha boar over a hundred feet back. 

However, before they could fully process everything the alpha boar let out another deafening howl, before rocketing out of the forest like a bullet towards Aaron. 

As the alpha boar charged forward, Aaron didn’t move. Instead his grin only grew larger before he shifted his feet into a wider stance. Just as he did, flames ignited and coated his feet, before leaping forward towards the alpha boar. 

Just as the two reached each other, Aaron twisted and heaved one of his flame covered feet forward, slamming into the bottom of the alpha boar’s head. Exploding as it connected, the force of the attack sent Aaron backwards, while sending the alpha boar’s head upwards, once again exposing its underside. 

After he was send backwards, Aaron flipped through the air multiple times, landing onto the trunk of a large tree, before kicking off the tree hard and launching himself back towards the alpha boar.

“Fire Dragon: Horn Blade!” Aaron yelled, flames blazing around his entire body, before engulfing him and blasting towards the alpha boar, even faster than before. The added speed allowing Aaron to reach the alpha before it could fall back down to the ground, and crash into the alpha boar’s underside. 

Just as he crashed into the alpha boar, Aaron doubled the force of his flames and shot into the air, taking the alpha boar with him. As he soared into the air, Serena and Caliose continue to watch wide eyed at Aaron’s fighting style. At the same time, Aaron grinded his teeth against each other as his flames died away, leaving only flames on his fists, before grabbing hold onto the alpha boar and hurled it down, fracturing the ground as it landed. At the same time, the flames on each of Aaron’s arms flared up and burned even stronger than before, as he lifted both of his fists above his head combining the flames.

“Fire Dragon: Meteor Flame!” Aaron roared as he heaved his arms down, sending the combined flames from each of his arms down towards the alpha boar, before the fireball flared up and enlarging to the size of a house.

As Aaron’s attack connected, the resulting explosion forced Serena and Caliose to take cover until it passed. Caliose ducked behind a tree while Serena only dropped to the ground with her hands covering her head.

Nearly a full minute passes before the force of the explosion dies down. Serena, propping herself on her hands looked up, before Aaron landed hard in front of her, steam coming off of him, a toothy grin plastered on his face.

_ ‘Holy crap… I didn’t know he was so… strong…’ _ Serena thought to herself, her jaw hanging, as she watched Aaron begin walking towards where the alpha boar was.

“Do me a favor and stay down.” Aaron joked as the smoke began to clear, revealing the alpha boar slumped down, not moving. Aaron continued to walk towards the alpha boar, but just as he got within a yard of the boar, its body began glowing brightly. 

Aaron immediately shifted into stance, just in case the alpha boar got a second wind. However, just as the glow peaked, it began to dissipate, along with the alpha boar, making Aaron sigh in relief. At the same time, Caliose came out from behind the tree he was hiding behind, with Serena pushing herself to her feet.

“Looks like we’ve completed our first mission!” Aaron exclaimed, crouching down before shooting back up, raising the condensed magic stone in his hand to the sky.


	6. Principal's Power

“Excuse me? Principal Julius?” Aaron asked as he entered the principal’s office. The office itself was the size of a classroom, the walls covered with magical and artificial items, his deck being the size of a twin sized bed, and having stacks upon stacks of papers and files.

“Hmm? Yes Aaron, what is it?” Principal Julius replied raising his head from a paper he was filling out. His clear blue eyes peering over the stacks of papers towards Aaron.

“Well, I wanted to ask you something after I got my mission license, but I forgot to.” Aaron began rubbing the back of his head, casting his eyes to the side.

“What did you want to ask me?” The Principal encouraged, putting down his pen and looking back at Aaron with a calm smile.

“W-Would you please have a sparring match with me?” Aaron blurted out taking a step forward, raising his fists to his chest.

“What? Why on earth would you want to spar against me for?” Principal Julius questioned raising an eyebrow. This action making Aaron more passionate about the idea.

“I want to see how big the gap is between you and me. That way I know what I’m aiming for.” Aaron explained looking down at his fist with a serious expression. As he finished, a smile grew on the principal’s face.

“Good answer. Very well, I’ll have a sparring match with you, I’ll let you know when I’ll be available.” Principal Julius approved as he stood from his chair and made his way to Aaron, with his hand outstretched.

“Awesome! Thank you sir!” Aaron exclaimed, shaking his hand and heading out of the principal’s office with a toothy grin plastered on his face.

As Aaron left his office, Principal Julius couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of excitement for the sparring match.

As the days rolled by, Aaron continued going to class but couldn’t focus half the time, because he was so excited to spar against the principal. After a week had passed, Aaron was starting to wonder if the Principal had forgotten about their match. 

While he was waiting for the principal to talk with him about their match, Aaron decided to look up fights the principal has been in on one of the school computers. Despite only find a few videos of fights that the principal had been in, Aaron saw a pattern that persisted throughout each fight until it had ended. Aaron broadened his search for any sort of contest that the principal had been in and found the same pattern from his fights.

Aaron continued to have doubts until, during his Magic Training class he was called to the principal’s office. Aaron practically sprinted there after he was called, making it to the principal’s office in less than five minutes.

“You wanted to see me Principal Julius?” Aaron asked as he stepped into the principal’s office. However this time, instead of filling out papers, the principal was standing next to his desk reading a file in his hands.

“Yes, it’s about our sparring match.” The principal explained looking up from the file with a small smile.

“What about it?” Aaron asked raising his eyebrow. The principal simply smiled, put down the file on his desk, and rested his hands behind him.

“Would now be a good time?” Principal Julius suggested closing his eyes and his smile growing larger.

“Sure! As long as I get to fight you, I’m game!” Aaron exclaimed making a fist pumping motion.

“Alright, let’s go then!” The principal then extended his arm, with his hand glowing bright green, created two bright green circles below the two of them.

“Whoa!” Aaron yelped, the bright light making him cover his eyes with his arm.

After the bright glow had dissipated, Aaron lowered his arm and took in the area. The principal had teleported the two of them to a large open dirt and rock field half the size of a football field, and  was covered in scattered rocks protruding from the ground for several feet. 

As Aaron looked around, he also spotted the Principal on the opposite side or the field with his hands resting behind his back. At the same time, Aaron saw multiple flying drones with cameras attached them.

“What’s with the drones?” Aaron asked pointing at one hovering above him.

“Well, it’s not everyday that a freshmen challenges the Principal to a match, so our match is going to be broadcasted to the entire school to watch.” The principal explained with a closed eye smile.

“Alright… Makes sense, I guess…” Aaron conceded, rubbing the back of his head.  _ I don’t know how I feel about that… but I’ll just leave it. _

“Don’t hold back, you hear me Principal Julius!” Aaron exclaimed with a grin, raising a fist.

At that moment, a light blue portal formed in the center of the arena, with the Vice-Principal walking out of it and raising both of their hands above their head.

“This match between Principal Julius and Aaron Lyran will begin shortly! The rules of the match are simple, for the Principal to win, he must knock Aaron out, make him unable to fight, or get him to give up. While Aaron only has to land 2-3 hits on the Principal to win!” The Vice-Principal explained with a loud voice that echoed throughout the entire arena.

“Wait what?!” Aaron exclaimed taken aback from how easy it seemed for him to win. He quickly looked over at the principal to make sure he heard correctly.

“Of course you’d have a handicap Aaron. I am the principal for a reason.” Principal Julius replied with a knowing look in his eyes. 

“Are you both ready?” As the vice-principal asked, both Aaron and the Principal nodded in affirmation.

“Alright… 3! 2! 1! BEGIN!” The Vice-Principal yelled out, jumping backwards into a portal he created.

Immediately after the Vice-Principal had disappeared through his portal, Aaron dashed towards the principal, with his right fist coated in flames.

“Magical eye.” Principal Julius quietly said closing his eyes for a moment, before opening them back up, but now his eyes were glowing with a light blue color.

“Magic: 1,120. Control: 1,020, and Strength: 2,120.” Julius muttered to himself the glow fading from his eyes. “Power Level: 4,260.” Julius simply relaxed his arms and raise one of his hands to his chest as Aaron closed in.

“Fire Dragon: Claw!” Aaron yelled out, hurling his fire coated fist forward, aiming for the principal’s face. 

However, as Aaron’s fist got within a foot of him, Julius whirled his hand in front of Aaron’s attack. And with a sharp burst of force, deflected Aaron’s attack, while sending him skidding backwards, wide eyed. 

After stopping, Aaron continued kicking off the ground and into the air, igniting his foot in flames, before twisting in the air and slamming his foot down towards the principal. 

“Fire Dragon: Talon!” Aaron called out as he heaved his fire covered foot towards the principal.

However, as Aaron’s foot neared the principal, another blast of force sent him backwards once again. As he landed, Aaron snapped his eyes over to the principal and saw that he had not moved at all, and wore the same expression, making Aaron grit his teeth in frustration.

“I didn’t want to believe it just from the videos, but I guess it’s true,” Aaron cursed under his breath, gripping his fists tighter than ever, straightening up while casting a slight glare at the principal. “He doesn’t respect any sort of fight between two or more people.”

“I thought I said to come at me without holding back!” Aaron yelled standing up straight glaring over to the principal.

“I would rather not kill my student, thank you very much.” Julius responded narrowing his eyes and losing his smile, only irritating Aaron more.

Aaron resumes his attack by hurling multiple fireballs at the principal, who simply blocked each one, with enough power to make them dissipate. However, as the fireballs dissipated, principal Julius couldn’t see Aaron anywhere in his field of view. Just as he begins to look around the area to find him, principal Julius hears Aaron shout above him, forcing him to look up.

“Fire Dragon: Claw!” Aaron called out, hurling his flame coated fist down at the principal from above. Right as Aaron’s fist nearly slams into the principal, with a sudden blast, was forced back into the air, with his attack deflected. Before he landed, Aaron twisted his body, managing to land on his feet. 

“Emit Force: Sheer Force.” The principal calmly says right as Aaron lands, extending his arm, before a sudden surge of energy shot from his palm, forcing the air into a whirlwind, and barreled towards Aaron at blistering speeds. 

Aaron narrowly managed to raise his arms to guard before the attack slammed into him, sending him flying backwards, crashing through multiple rocks before coming to a stop.

However, just as Julius began to lower his arm, Aaron shot out of the dust cloud with both of his arms covered in flames, then leaped into the air, while reeling both arms back.  

“Fire Dragon: Wing Strike!” Aaron called out swiping each of his arms forward and back, sending a torrent of blazing flames raining down towards the Principal.

“Emit Force: Sheer Force.” Julius simply responds, aiming his palm towards the flames, before firing off his previous attack once more. As each attack reaches each other, the principal’s attack blasts through the flames and into Aaron, sending him crashing back to the ground. As Julius lowers his arm after Aaron crashes into the ground, a river of flames erupt from where Aaron had landed and surged forward at breakneck speeds.

“Fire Dragon: Roar!” Aaron called out as the river of flames barreled towards the principal. Thanks to the timing of the attack, Julius was forced to block the flames with his opposite hand at the last second, obstructing his entire view.

Just as the attack began to disappear, Aaron emerged from the flames and tightly grasped the Principal’s wrist at the same time.

“Gotcha.” Aaron seethed out as he tightened his grip on the Principal’s wrist, only managing to irritate Julius.

“Just don’t lose your grip.” Julius simply warned before blasting Aaron point blank, lifting Aaron up and over him before slamming him down to the ground, cracking it in the process. Julius continues by blasting Aaron again, repeating the attack. However, the entire time Aaron’s grip never loosened, even with two point blank attacks in a row. 

After the Principal’s second attack, Aaron pushed himself up with his other arm, giving Julius a menacing glare at the same time.

“Stop holding back!” Aaron raged igniting his free hand and slamming it into the Principal’s gut. At the same time, Julius managed to cast a spell from his other hand, narrowly blocking Aaron’s attack.

However, Aaron continue to force his flame covered fist forward, while the principal continues with his spell as well.

“I said stop holding back!” Aaron bellowed through the force of the Principal’s spell, as the same time blazing flames on his other arm, burning away the Principal’s sleeve.

“I don’t need to! All I have to do is win!” Julius retaliated increasing the intensity of his spell trying to force Aaron back.  _ Why am I getting so worked up? This is nothing more than a contest of strength and power, nothing more! _

“You don’t have any respect for a fight between people!” Aaron raged on blazing more flames on both of his arms.

“I know how to win them!” Julius exploded with a sudden surge of power, blasting Aaron back faster than a bullet, crashing into the ground. As Julius releases a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, he shakes off residual embers from his arm while extending his other. 

As a bead of sweat trickles down the Principal’s forehead into his eye forcing a blink. Immediately after opening his eyes, his view was consumed by flames, forcing him to dodge the attack instead of blocking it.

“You’re still holding back…” Aaron seethed out and he rose to his feet, giving the Principal a glare that made a shiver go down his back.

“What does it matter?” Julius countered, with a glare of his own growing on his face.

“A fight between people is a clash between souls, not something you just win for the sake of winning!” Aaron roared reeling his arm back, his fist being consumed by crimson flames, as a blazing inferno erupting to life as he threw his fist forward.

“Fire Dragon: Blazing Fist!” Aaron roared as he threw his fist towards the principal.

“Emit Force: All Mighty Push!” Julius shouted shoving his arm forward, a whirlwind exploding from his hand and stopping Aaron in his tracks.

However, Aaron simply pushed forward through the eruption of power, with his flames burning brighter and enveloping his entire body. The power of Julius’s spell and intensity of Aaron’s flames, made Aaron look like a meteor as he continued to push through.

_ ‘How is he still in front of me?! His power level is only 4,260!’ _ Julius screamed in his head, as the heat of Aaron’s flames began charring the ground around him.  _ ‘Magical eye’ _ the principal casted as his eyes began glowing, before then widening in shock.

_ ‘That’s not possible… His power level is increasing?!’ _ Julius marvelled as Aaron’s stats were revealed to him.  _ ‘5,000… 6,000… 7,000… How is he doing this?!’ _ The principal saw as Aaron continued to force his way through Julius’s attack.


	7. Encounter

It was nearing four in the afternoon when Aaron, along with Serena and Katelyn, finished their school mission, retrieved the condensed magic stone, and were on their way back.

The mission they completed was said to only take them an hour, however the terrain caused them to take much longer than they expected. The area was a barren, rocky terrain, with dozens of irregular rock spires sticking out of the ground, making the area look more like a cave than anything else.

“That mission was boring!” Serena complained resting her hands behind her head.

“You can’t really expect every school mission we go on to be a grand adventure. Besides, this is only our seventh mission.” Katelyn replied squinting her eyes along with a blank expression.

“But they should be!” Serena hollered out, shaking a fist to the sky.

“Right Aaron?” Serena continued turning around to face the other two.

“Don’t drag me into this, I don’t care as long as I get to have some fun!” Aaron deflected, looking away from the irritated teen with a nervous smile.

“You know, that carefree attitude is going to get you killed.” Serena sighed slumping her shoulders, making the other two chuckle.

As the trio continued to walk to the area they were told to go back to after they completed the mission, they were cut off by two hooded figures. 

Each figure were around the same height and were each wearing blue jackets and slightly ripped jeans. As they approached the trio, Aaron stepped forward, nudging both Katelyn and Serena behind him.

“Who are you? This place is off limits to the public.” Katelyn questioned after taking his hint and slightly moving behind Aaron.

“What are you doing here?” Aaron continued after a few moments of silence from the two.

“If you would be so kind as to hand over the condensed magic stone you have, that would be great.” The closest figure spoke up, at the same time extending an open hand.

“No, these stones can be extremely dangerous!” Serena broke in from behind Aaron.

“Besides we have to turn this stone into the principal himself, and no one else!” Katelyn broke in with an attempt to get the two to leave.

“Well, can’t say we didn’t try.” The second figure shrugged before giving the first figure a nod.

“Gale Force: Blast!” The first figure called out, thrusting out his extended hand before creating a concentrated stream of wind, aimed at Aaron, Katelyn and Serena. 

However, before the attack could hit any of them, each jumped backwards, resulting in the attack hitting the ground, kicking up a dust cloud.

As Aaron landed, he whipped his head over to the others and saw that Serena had grabbed Katelyn and managed to dodged the attack as well. A few moments pass before the dust clears, revealing the two hooded figures have taken off their hoods, revealing their faces. 

The first man had rugged, dark green hair that stopped just after his ears, and had matching green eyes, while the second man had blonde hair and hazel eyes, each with sharp faces and slanted noses.

“Before we continue, I’ll introduce you to my friend and myself!” The first man spoke up spreading his arms wide, before the second figure slaps the back of his head.

“Shut it! What happens if one of them gets away!” The second man snapped.

“Oh it’s fine! My name is Gale and this here is Tails!” Gale continued despite the protest from Tails. Tails simply shook his head at Gale’s action.

“And now it’s time for you lot to disappear!” Tails exploded glaring at Aaron, Katelyn and Serena.

“Gale Force: Blast!” Gale called out again firing another blast of concentrated wind at the trio, once again hitting the ground and kicking up a dust cloud.

After dodging the attack once more, Aaron digs his foot into the ground, and kicks off through the dust cloud, and tackles Gale, before blazing flames on his feet and blasting into the air with Gale.

“Serena! Katelyn! Stall the other guy until I get back!” Aaron ordered as he flew off with Gale.

“Understood!” Serena replied with lighting starting to arc off of her entire body.

“Right!” Katelyn replied as well shifting her feet into stance.

Right after Aaron flew off with Gale, Tails began to follow them, before being cut off by a barrage of Serena’s lightning.

“Nope! Not happening!” Serena smirked firing off another barrage of lighting at Tails. 

“Get out of my way!” Tails barked out thrusting out his palm, before a cluster of ash the size of a basketball shot out at towards Serena. Serena managed to dodge the attack by enhancing her speed with her lighting, causing the attack to smash into the ground.

“Attack: Duel Elements!” Katelyn called out from behind Tails, before spheres of fire and earth shot from her hands, combined into one, and crashed into Tails back.

“Argh!” Tails grunted stumbling forward before twisting around to face the two.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After taking off, Aaron flew a few dozen feet before feeling a sharp pain in his back, causing him to crash to the ground. After rolling to a stop, Aaron snapped to his feet and saw through the dust, Gale standing up as well.

“Smart. Separating me and my friend, making it easier for you to beat us. However, you miss judged how much stronger I am than you!” Gale boomed spreading his arms out wide, with a light green glow surrounding his arms and streams of wind began to surround him.

“Gale Force: Blades!” Gale called out, swinging his arms forward before the streams of wind formed into dozens of transparent blades made of wind, and shot towards Aaron. 

“Fire Dragon: Roar!” Aaron called out, a river of flames erupting from his mouth and blasted towards Gale, all before the blades of wind could reach him.

As Aaron’s attack met the blades of wind, it pierced through the attack and barreled towards Gale before exploding, creating a large smoke cloud. As the smoke cleared, it revealed Gale, surrounded by a dome of fast moving wind.

“That was a pretty powerful spell! Color me impressed!” Gale praised as the dome of wind disappeared. Just as he saw the dome disappear, Aaron ignited his fist in flames and bolted towards Gale.

“Fire Dragon: Claw!” Aaron called out, cracking his flame covered fist across Gale’s face, sending him backwards before he could cast another spell.

After coming to a stop from the attack, Gale turned towards Aaron with a twisted grin on his face, with a small amount of blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth.

“Gale Force: Hunter’s Arrow!” Gale yelled out, reeling an arm back while extending his other, with the wind twisting and whirling into a bow with an arrow the size of a canoe, before launching the arrow as fast as a speeding car.

“Fire Dragon: Wing Strike!” Aaron called out, blazing each of his arms in flames, before swiping them forward and back, sending a torrent of fire forward, with each attack canceling the other out, creating a large explosion.

As Gale prepared to send a gust of wind to clear the smoke, Aaron emerged from the smoke cloud with his foot coated in flames. 

Just before Gale could counter, Aaron threw his leg forward, sending a flying kick crashing into Gale’s side, sending him skidding backwards.

_ ‘He’s trying to end this quickly… I don’t think so!’ _ Gale grinned as he came to a stop, thrusting his palm out.

“Gale Force: Blast!” Gale yelled out with a concentrated blast of wind shot out from his palm and rocketed towards Aaron. Just before the attack reached him, Aaron raised his arms in an ‘X’ blocking the attack just in time, while still being forced back from the attack.

As he skidded to a stop, Aaron swiped both of his arms wide, at the same time flames began igniting around his body.

“Fire Dragon: Horn Blade!” Aaron yelled out, the flames engulfing his entire body, before rocketing forward at breakneck speeds. At the same time, Gale reeled back one arm, while extending the other, the surrounding air swirling and forming into the bow and arrow from before.

“Gale Force: Hunter’s Arrow!” Gale called out, firing off the arrow before Aaron could reach him. 

As the two attacks reach each other, the resulting explosion creating a dust cloud the size of a house, and forced Gale to cover his face with his arm. While Aaron was shot backwards, and crashed through multiple rock spires before coming to a stop.

“Ugh… That was stronger than before…” Aaron grunted, pushing a rock off of his back and standing to his feet. However, before Aaron could catch his breath, dozens of blades made of wind shot out of the dust straight for him.

“Crap!” Aaron cursed out raising his arms as the barrage of magic hit him full force. The power of the attack slicing Aaron in multiple areas, and tearing off the upper right of his shirt, while sending him tumbling back multiple feet before stopping.

“This isn’t all you can do is it?!” Gale taunted as he forced the dust cloud to dissipate, zooming straight towards Aaron, using wind to blast himself forward.

“Not a chance! Fire Dragon: Claw!” Aaron called out, kicking up to his feet and dashing towards Gale with his fist covered in flames. At the same time, Gale began swirling air around his fist, making it look like he had a drill for a hand.

“Gale Force: Twister Fist!” Gale called out as he and Aaron shot towards one another. The force of the impact as the two met, sending each of them backwards.

“That’s more like it! Gale Force: Blast!” Gale called out once more, with a stream of wind firing from his palm aimed at Aaron’s head. Just as the stream of wind reached him, Aaron flung his head and arms back, narrowly dodging the attack.

Completing the flip, Aaron dug his foot into the ground before leaping a dozen feet into the air, at the same time, igniting his foot in fire.

“Fire Dragon: Talon!” Aaron yelled out, front flipping before heaving down his flame covered foot at Gale in an axe kick. 

However, before Aaron’s foot could touch him, Gale leapt backwards, while using his magic to further propel himself back. The impact of Aaron’s attack, kicked up enough dust to completely cover him.

“Not that this hasn’t been fun. But I kinda have a job to do, so if you don’t have the condensed magic stone… die…” Gale stated as if flipping a switch on his personality, while extending his arm, with an open palm. “I’ll just go and get the stone from those two girls when I’m done here.”

“I won’t let you!!” Aaron bellowed as he shot from the dust cloud, flames covering each of his arms. 

“Fire Dragon: Wing Strike!” He yelled as he got within range and swiped his arms forward and back, sending a torrent of flames towards Gale.

“Gale Force: Hurricane Shot.” Gale simply said before a twister of wind erupted from his palm and barreled towards Aaron. Gale’s attack piercing right through his flames and colliding into Aaron with a large explosion that sent him flying through the air. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back with Serena and Katelyn, they were at a stalemate with Tails. Each attack they fired was countered or avoided, and vise versa. Along with each side having good mobility, making it hard to get a solid hit in.

“Heaven Ward: Javelins!” Serena called out, with several five foot rods of lightning forming around her, before firing towards Tails.

“Attack: Two elements!” Katelyn called out at the same time, with orbs of fire and ice blasting from her palms and towards Tails.

“Ashen Form: Barrier!” Tails yelled out, extending his arm with ash flowing from his hand and swirling into a shield the size of car tire. Effectively deflecting Serena and Katelyn’s attacks.

“Ashen Form: Cracking Whip!” Tails called out, reeling back his arm and clenching his hand into a fist, ash bursting out and stretching out several feet. As soon as the ash finished extending, Tails then rapidly swung his arm towards Serena and Katelyn, berating them with dozens of strikes, at the same time wrecking the immediate surroundings.

As Serena stood back up from the assault, she stole a glance over to Katelyn to see her struggling to stand and catch her breath. 

_ ‘Aaron please hurry…’ _ Serena prayed as she clapped her hands together and fired a blast of lightning towards Tails.

_ ‘I can’t stop now… I have to keep fighting…’ _ Katelyn told herself, forcing her body to stand. With memories of Aaron fighting so many tough battles but never backing down flashing through her mind.

“Attack: Four Elements!” Katelyn yelled out, determination flaring in her eyes, as dozens of orbs of fire, ice, lightning, and earth formed all round her, before launching towards Tails.

“Katelyn?!” Serena gasped seeing Katelyn cast such a powerful spell, having to guard against the resulting explosion, as it forced her back.

“Ashen Form: Barrier!” Tails called out, ash flowing from his hand and swirling into a shield once more before Katelyn’s attack could reach him. Tails managed to block a few of the orbs Katelyn casted, however, his shield was soon overwhelmed and Katelyn’s spell pierced his shield. The explosion creating a smoke cloud the size of an eighteen wheeler.

As Serena landed, she immediately turned her gaze to Katelyn. As she did, she saw Katelyn panting hard, but was smiling nonetheless, making her smile as well. 

_ ‘Atta girl.’ _ Serena thought, pride for her friend welling up in her chest.

Katelyn began to turn towards Serena with bright smile, just as a chain made of ash shot from the smoke cloud and slammed into Katelyn’s side. The force of the blow, sending her body flying through the air before collapsing on the ground.

“Katelyn!!” Serena shrieked as she ran towards her body, tripping every other step she took. As Serena reached her, tears were beginning to form in the corners of her eyes, as she grabbed Katelyn and immediately check for a heartbeat or breathing.

“Thank god…” Serena mumbled as she found Katelyn’s heartbeat and breathing. However before she could even check to see how badly she was hurt, Tails emerged from the smoke cloud, taking long strides as he walked.

“You… asshole!” Serena exploded sending a blast of lightning from her palm at Tails. Who simply created another shield, blocking the attack.

“Not that you two aren’t strong, but since one of you is down, this’ll be easy.” Tails remarked with bored expression as he continued to walk forward, with ash forming in his palms.

As he talked, Serena only glared daggers at him until Katelyn began to twitch. Slowly opening her eyes, slightly wincing as she tried to move, Katelyn looked up to see Serena with a worried look in her eyes.

“Oh yeah, before I kill you, you either of you have the condensed magic stone?” Tails asked as he stopped walking. Serena only grinding her teeth as she glared at him.

“Go to hell!” Serena yelled at him, only making him sigh and droop his shoulders a slight bit.

“That is where I’ll be going after I die but… The only ones going to die are the two of you!” Tails snapped back reeling one of his arms back, with ash spilling out of his arm.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Gale’s ‘Hurricane shot’ spell, Aaron was flung through the air with his body battered and bruised everywhere. Aaron soon crashed back into the ground after several seconds, tumbling for several feet before stopping face down on the ground.

‘Argh… dammit… he’s strong…’ Aaron thought as he coughed out blood and onto the hard stone ground. Aaron began to try and get up, only to grit his teeth together to keep himself from screaming out in pain. 

Suddenly, before he could try anything else, Aaron heard a Katelyn and Serena’s voices before a loud explosion fills his senses.

As the explosion died down, Aaron remained still to try and see if he could hear anything else. A few moments of silence pass with Aaron deciding to attempt to stand before suddenly hearing Serena scream.

_ ‘What happened?!’ _ Aaron questioned, fearing that one of them was hurt and trying to get up at the same time. But, this only caused Aaron to flop back to the ground, with his body trembling from the pain.

“That is where I’ll be going after I die but… The only ones going to die are the two of you!” Aaron heard what he assumed Tails yell out, making him snap his eyes closed as he grinded his teeth together.

_ ‘Come on! Move! Move dammit!!’ _ Aaron commanded his body, only to have a white-hot flash of pain keep him from moving. At the same time, unknowingly to Aaron, the condensed magic stone in his pocket began to twitch and glow.

_ ‘I can’t let them die! They were the first people to accept me in such a long time!’ _ Aaron yelled at himself, tears beginning to stream down his face and onto the rocky ground. 

Suddenly time seemed to crawl to a stop, as everything around Aaron faded away leaving him lying down in an endless expanse of blackness, with only his body being left.

_ ‘I only ever had Derek or my Brother… Everyone was either scared of me or simply avoided me altogether…’ _ Aaron cried out in his mind, memories of kids running away from him flashing in the darkness. Then Derek and his brother consoling the lonely young Aaron.

_ ‘But not Katelyn and Serena… They accepted me despite first seeing the most horrible parts of my personality…’ _ The faces of the two appearing in his mind along with their blinding smiles, illuminating the expanse of blackness.

_ ‘I can’t lose them… I can’t lose... the first friends I’ve had made I was a child!!’  _ Aaron wailed as he began to see Katelyn and Serena’s faces fade away leaving him only in darkness.

_ ‘So please…. MOVE!!!’ _ Aaron pleaded with his body once more.

“Do you want power?” A voice suddenly echoed through the endless darkness, making Aaron snap his eyes widen open. The voice was deep and thick, with the tone full of pity, as the words continued to echo through Aaron’s mind.

‘H-huh?’ Aaron uttered out, not knowing if what he heard was even real.

“Do you want power?” The voice repeated, not changing in tone in the slightest. Aaron didn’t recognized the voice, however, he couldn’t help but feel a sort of familiarity for the voice. 

‘Yes! Please I have to help them!!’ Aaron pleaded, tightly closing his eyes as visions of Serena and Katelyn disappearing continued to play through his mind.

“So be it…” The voice simply said, before Aaron suddenly felt the ground below him disappear.

As Aaron continued to fall through the darkness, images of people, places and events began to flash into existence. However, they were blurry and out of focus, almost as if they were memories that couldn’t be remembered completely.

‘What is this…’ Aaron questioned, surprising himself as how calm he was. He didn’t feel any sort of panic or will to stop himself from falling and only let his body fall and fly past the blurry visions.

Aaron continued to fall and fly through blurry images for what seemed like hours, until suddenly the endless blackness ended and compacted itself and formed into a figure, towering behind Aaron.

“Hey.” The figure spoke, getting Aaron’s attention. As Aaron turned to the figure, his eyes widen as he lets out a thunderous yelled.

“WHAT THE HELL?!?!” Aaron yelled. The figure was hundreds of times his size, had a pitch black body, horns protruding from his head, with his eyes and jagged mouth glowing a blood red. Along with what seemed to be wings that looked like they were torn or shredded sprouting from his back.

“Shouldn’t you know that really isn’t a way of speaking to someone who’s been by your side for so long?” The voice boomed, his glowing red mouth curling into a large grin.

“I guess it doesn’t matter now does it… I get to have some fun in the physical world...” The figure continued before Aaron could respond, reaching out attempting to grab Aaron in his enormous hands. 

As the figure opened his hand, he saw that Aaron had somehow dodged and was now behind him.

“What the hell do you mean by that?! If you even dare to touch Serena or Katelyn, I’ll personally burn you to ashes!” Aaron roared as his realized that he didn’t feel any pain whatsoever. 

However, the figure only chuckled before swiping his other arm behind him and tightly gripping Aaron in his hand.

“Just let yourself go… It’ll be for the best…” The figure boomed once more as he gazed down to Aaron in his large hand. However, just as he finished his eyes widen as he saw Aaron prying himself from his grasp.

“You know… It might just be because of how big you are but…” Aaron began, flipping out and above the figures grasp and onto its arm. 

“But your strength seems like just what I need to keep Serena and Katelyn safe!!” Aaron boomed dashing up and across the figures arm. 

Before he could go much further, the figure slammed down his other arm to try and crush Aaron. However, Aaron simply leaped off the figure’s arm and landed on top of its head.

“Now! Let me save my friends!” Aaron commanded, gripping the figure’s head so hard that the figure lost its form and flowed into Aaron. The darkness enveloping his entire body, along with the figures torn wings and horns sprouting from his body, ending with a deafening war cry.


	8. Racing Tournament

“Alright everyone! Please give me your attention!” Mr. Fernandez spoke up as the bell for seventh period rang. The entire class took their seats before turning their heads over towards the front of the classroom.  
“This period is going to be a fun one, you’ve all improved a lot from the start of the year. And you’ve all ask me a specific question multiple times, but this class will be the answer to that.” Mr. Fernandez began, leaning forward, excitement spreading throughout the classroom.

“We will be having tournaments to see who is the best in a give field of magic!” And with that announcement, the entire class cheered in excitement, including the more quiet students.

“There will be three different tournaments that everyone will participate in! The first being a race where two people will go through a obstacle course and the winner will move on. The second being a team battle tournament where you have multiple ways of winning. And the last being a traditional 1v1 battle tournament!” Mr. Fernandez explained after calming everyone down before they exploded in excitement and wonder once again.

“Alright! Which one will we be doing today?” Serena blurted out from her seat, everyone quieting down as they waited for the answer.

“That will be the race tournament, but don’t think you’ll be able to pick your opponent. The bracket will be randomized!” Mr. Fernandez revealed, grabbing a small remote from his desk, while casting a knowing look towards Aaron and Derek.

“Come on! Let’s go!” Aaron exclaimed, shooting out from his chair and towards the door. Before Mr. Fernandez grabbed Aaron by the back of his shirt, making him fall flat onto his back, and reminded everyone not to run in the halls.

* * *

 

And with the entire class excited to race, they all left their classroom and set off to the outdoor gymnasium. The entire walk only took about seven minutes, but to the class, it felt like time moved at a snail’s pace, and seven minutes felt like seven hours.

As they arrived at the outdoor gymnasium, instead of an empty field the size of a football stadium, they were greeted by a massive brick and stone tower with the obstacle course entrance at the bottom, going up and around all the way to the top. The entire tower had to at least be as tall, if not taller, than a skyscraper, and was wide enough for one floor to hold a swimming pool.

“Alright! There are cameras throughout the entire obstacle course, so those who aren’t going can still watch.” Mr. Fernandez explained, walking over to a large desk with dozens of monitors set up, along with about fifteen chairs.

“As well as, there are fifteen floors or zones of the obstacle course. The first five being for maneuverability/agility, the next five are covered in traps, and the final five have shifting layouts with traps.” Mr. Fernandez revealed turing to the class, each one taking in the infor and starting to create plans.

“Who’s going first Mr. Fernandez?” Jackson asked as he stepped up to the front of the group, hands in his pockets.

“Well, if you’d turn your attention to the large monitor, you’ll see which two will be going first!” Mr. Fernandez directed, swinging his arm out, while pressing a button on his remote.

Everyone turned their gazes towards the monitor as it came to life with a bracket appearing on the screen, with all sixteen students paired up against another in eight matches.

Match 1: Aaron-vs-Jordan|Match 2: Derek-vs-Julie|Match 3: Serena-vs-Paylong Match 4: Katelyn-vs-Jin|Match 5: Jay-vs-Nicole|Match 6: Caliose-vs-Marilyn Match 7: Yu-vs-Dean|Match 8: Mori-vs-Jackson

“So Aaron and Jordan are first.” Nicole observed as most of the class cast their looks over to the two boys. Each one was staring at one another with grins on their faces, excited to go first.

“Alright, both of you head to the starting line. The first one to make it past the finish line at the top of the tower, wins. Also, try and not kill each other!” Mr. Fernandez instructed.

“Alright!” Aaron and Jordan both replied and made their way to the obstacle course.

“Ready?” Mr. Fernandez asked as each student took their positions, getting a nod of affirmation from the both of them.

“On your marks! Get set! GO!” Right after, the starting line lit up green with Aaron and Jordan sprinting forward and into the tower.

As the two round the corner, they instantly were greeted by a pitfall with no end in sight, with pillars protruding out of the side of the walls to the other side of the pitfall.

As Jordan peered down the pitfall to try and see if he could spot the bottom, Aaron jumped forward and landed onto one of the pillars sticking out of the wall, looking back at Jordan.

“Remember, this is a race!” Aaron called back before leaping from one pillar to another, irritating Jordan quite a bit. Jordan continued to watch Aaron hop from pillar to pillar before an idea popped into his head, making him smile.

Jordan then shifted his feet wide and pointed both of his arms behind him, before firing his magic from his palms, blasting himself through the air and over the pitfall.

Just as Aaron made it halfway through the pitfall, Jordan flied through the air, passing Aaron, and landing onto the other side of the pitfall.

“Remember, this is a race!” Jordan mimicked turning towards Aaron before running ahead.

“Oh it’s on now!” Aaron exclaimed, crouching down on the pillar he was on, before pushing off of it hard, launching himself forward. The force of his jump snapping the pillar off the wall and falling into the pit, while sending him across the remaining distance.

As he landed, Aaron broke into a run to try and catch up to Jordan, who had already rounded the second corner. Rounding the corner, Aaron saw Jordan already trying to make his way past the next obstacle.

This obstacle consisted of a long hallway with dozens of logs swinging from one side to another, the logs being as wide as a car tire, and as long as a canoe. If it wasn’t hard enough already, each log was moving at a different speed.

He wasn’t even a quarter way through and it was taking all of Jordan’s concentration to avoid the logs, making his progression slow down to a crawl.

Aaron didn’t even think of how he would avoid the logs before bolting into the obstacle, with a smile on his face.

* * *

 

Back outside with Mr. Fernandez and the rest of the class, some noticed Aaron not even hesitating as he made his way forward.

“What’s he thinking? He can’t possibly dodge all of those while running!” Nicole blurted out, waving a fist into the air.

“Maybe… Maybe not…” Derek added with a knowing look on his face. The rest of the class only giving him a confused look before looking back to the race.

As soon as he entered the obstacle, a log swung down and was just a pin's width away from smacking into his face before Aaron snapped his head down, dodging the log. Not even a second passed before another log was on a collision course with Aaron’s face, however, Aaron continued running and managed to dodge the log.

As he ran, Aaron continued to duck away, dive underneath, and dip out of the way of each and every log that came his way, while passing Jordan. His movements becoming more and more fluid and rapid with each log avoided.

After making it halfway, it was obvious that the logs were moving even faster than before. With each log moving at a speed that forced the air out of its way, creating small gusts of wind inside the hallway.

However, Aaron didn’t slow down, in fact he sped up, making a beeline towards the end of the hallway. Despite the increase speed of the logs and running faster than before, Aaron continued to avoid each and every log that swung down.

“How is he doing that?! Is he even looking at half of the logs that come at him?” Mori questioned as Aaron continued making his way through the obstacle with ease.

“Is he using his magic to predict the paths of the logs?” Julie wondered putting a hand on her chin.

“Nope. Aaron doesn’t know a spell like that.” Derek corrected as he didn’t even look away from the monitors with a grin, making everyone confused.

“Then what is he doing?” Julie asked with a hand on her hip, not believing Derek’s claim.

“It’s a lot more simple than you think.” Derek began in a matter of fact voice, waving a hand in the air. “He’s just reacting to the logs as they come at him, and dodging them.”

“You can’t be serious.” Nicole spoke out, looking back at the monitors.

“Believe me or not. That’s what’s happening.” Derek shrugged and he continued to watch the monitors with a smile.

 _'Just you wait Aaron, after this you're up against me. And there's no way in hell I'll let you win!'_ Derek thought to himself with a determined grin, feeling exited for the rest of the races.

* * *

 

Just after Derek finished, Aaron dashed past the last log and looked back to see Jordan just making it halfway, before sprinting towards the stairs at the end of the hallway.

The next four floors of the obstacle course consisted of variants of the first floor’s obstacles only getting progressively harder and more challenging.

The second floor nearly had Jordan get a face full of concrete after being knocked off balance by the floor rotating. The third floor caused Aaron to slam into a wall multiple times, thanks to a treadmill that got faster the longer you were on it. The fourth floor had the two boys fall on top of each other because of the moving hurdles that got higher and faster as they progressed. And the fifth floor only had the two boys running from robots that chased them down until the made it to the sixth floor.

After Aaron and Jordan made it to the sixth floor, they were immediately greeted by a barren hallway with nothing in it except for lights on the roof.

“Congrats on making it past the first five floors. Remember the next five floors are going to have traps! Have fun!” Mr. Fernandez’s voice boomed from speakers, that neither of the boys could see for the life of them.

“Well, if there are taps here, I can’t see or sense them.” Jordan stated, furrowing his brow in irritation as he stood in the doorway, his eyes slightly glowing with a red hue.

“Well! Only one way to find out then!” Aaron exclaimed punching his palm.

“Wait, what do you mean—” Jordan started before Aaron dashed past him and into the hallway, nearly knocking him over.

Aaron didn’t even go five feet from the doorway, before the floor below him sprouted nozzles, and jets of pressurized water spewed from the nozzles, slamming Aaron into the roof of the hallway before shutting off.

“AHHH!!” Aaron yelled as he was slammed into the roof, making Jordan shut his eyes and wince from the sound of the impact. A few moments pass before Jordan opens up his eyes and sees Aaron, completely soaked, standing back up in front of the water trap. Aaron was grinning along with a excited spark in his eyes, showing no signs just getting blasted into the roof seconds before.

“So that’s how it’s going to be huh?” Aaron asked to no one in particular as he popped his neck, looking down the hallway.

“Aaron, I know we are competing against each other. But maybe we should be a little more careful as we go forward!” Jordan pleaded on deaf ears, before Aaron bent his knees and bolted forward.

Aaron ran a few more feet before the wall to the right of him opened up, and a torrent of air pressure blasted from the opening, flattening Aaron against the opposite wall. The display making Jordan facepalm along with most of the class outside, except for a few who were laughing their asses off.

“WAAH!!” Aaron yelped as he was hit with the air pressure trap. The next few moments consisted of Aaron prying himself from the wall, while Jordan caught up, avoiding both traps.

“Come on Aaron! Don’t just go rushing forward when you know their are traps anywhere!” Jordan complained as Aaron brushed some dust off of his shoulder and head.

“I’m not done yet!” Aaron exclaimed before running forward again, before triggering another trap once again.

“This is going to be the next five floors isn’t it?” Jordan sweatdropped as he watched Aaron pick himself back up again.

As the two made their way through the five floors littered with traps, a pattern formed. The pattern consisted of Aaron running forward, triggering a trap, recovering from said trap, Jordan avoiding the trap, Aaron running forward and repeat. The entire five floors took nearly forty minutes for the two boys to complete, with Jordan coming out unscathed and Aaron finishing slightly panting while battered by the traps.

“Congrats on _finally_ completing the five trap floors! Now the last five floors are a combination of the trap floors and the obstacle floors. Have fun!” Mr. Fernandez’s voice broke in once more on the seemingly invisible speakers.

As soon as he finished, both Aaron and Jordan looked at each other with grins on their faces, nodded to one another, then bolted forward. They then used all their magic and stamina they saved up respectively on the past ten floors and bulldozed their way through four of the remaining floors, using either brute force or breakneck speeds to complete the floors.

After they completed the fourteenth floor and proceeded through the door, the two were greeted by a long hallway with the log obstacle from the first floor, except with even more logs, along with the air pressure trap from the sixth floor randomly blasting air. A combination that made it extremely hard to dash or brute force through Aaron and Jordan both noticed.

“Alright! Let’s do this!” Aaron exclaim before rushing forward, a large grin on his face despite the beating he took during the trap floors, and blasting through previous four floors.

“I won’t let you win that easily!” Jordan yelled blasting his magic from his palms, shooting himself after Aaron.

Aaron managed to avoid the log obstacle much like he did on the first floor, ducking away, diving below, and dipping out of the way of each log that came his way, with quick and fluid movements.

At the same time, Jordan saw how Aaron moved during the first time they went through this trap and, using his magic, increased his speed and zig zagged past most of the logs that came at him, and simply blasted the rest with small lasers fired from his eyes.

The only problem for the two was the added challenge and variable of the random blast of air from the air pressure trap. If it wasn’t there, the two would’ve been able to move through the obstacle even faster.

Aaron was lucky for the first part of the hallway, with the timing of the trap not having any blasts of air in his path. That didn’t last long however, because just before Aaron crossed the halfway point, a sudden blast of air came from the ceiling straight at Aaron.

However, just before the blast could touch him, Aaron flung his body to the left, avoiding the blast and landing on the wall, then kicking off the wall and going even further forward.

Jordan had the same beginning luck as Aaron thanks to the slight distance between the two. But that luck soon ran out when Jordan made it to the halfway point, two blasts fired from each wall about to flatten Jordan.

Before either of the blasts could touch him, Jordan doubled the intensity of the magic he was using, making him flip into the air and over the two blasts, landing on the ceiling, then blasting forward.

The two continued to dodge and evade the logs and air pressure until the passed the end of the obstacle with Aaron in the lead with Jordan close behind him.

As Aaron rounded the corner, he immediately saw that the floor had  quickly spinning platforms, with pillars in the middle of the platforms. The pillars themselves had multiple protrusions. Some of the protrusions were just normal bars that stook out, others curved down then up, and many others making the pillars look similar to multitools.

Aaron didn’t have time to play however, since Jordan was close to catching up to him, and dashed forward.

 _I’ll just figure it out as I go!_ Aaron thought to himself as he jumped and landed onto one of the rotating platforms. Just as he did though, a bar sticking out of the center pillar whacked Aaron over the back of his head, making him slightly stumble. He didn’t have any time to recover before another bar then hit Aaron’s feet from under him, making him fall to his back.

“Argh!” Aaron cursed out, getting to his feet before being smacked in the face by a curved bar and falling onto his back again.

 _Oh to hell with this!_ Aaron thought before kick flipping onto his feet and leaping into the air before another bar could hit him. At the same time, Aaron twisted in the air and landed on top of the pillar in the center of the rotating platform.

Aaron then hopped from pillar to pillar, effectively avoiding the entire obstacle below him. Just as he began to think he was safe to complete the entire obstacle, multiple segments of the roof above Aaron opened up, and barriers shot out, stopping a foot above the pillars, before retracting at fast speeds.

“Oh come on!” Aaron shouted out as he bent backwards to dodge one of the barriers. As result of the retracting barriers, Aaron was forced to crouch down on top of the pillar he was on.

Now extremely hunched over, Aaron was practically stuck and Jordan rounded the corner and started the obstacle. With how fast the barriers shot out of the roof, retracted and shot out again, along with the rotating floor, made it look like Aaron’s only choice was to drop down and try and proceed that way.

 _How can I do this?!_ Aaron racked his mind trying to figure out a way to complete the obstacle as Jordan began making his way through. Just before Jordan made it to the platform he was on, an idea popped into Aaron’s head, making him grin mischievously.

* * *

 

Back outside with the rest of the class, everyone saw the trouble Aaron was in, with some trying to figure out how he could get out of it.

“He’ll most likely have to drop down and risk Jordan passing him, otherwise he’ll lose for sure.” Julie claimed crossing her arms with a huff.

However, as he continued to watch, Derek saw the mischievous smile on Aaron’s face causing him to start laughing, making everyone turn to him confused.

“Nah! Aaron wins.” Derek managed out between laughs, only making everyone even more confused.

“Just watch.” Derek said after he stopped laughing and turning his attention back to the monitors.

* * *

 

Just as he did, Aaron arched both of his arms above his head, tucked his knees into his chest and leaned forward, making his body begin to fall.

As he fell, right as his body was parallel to the ground, Aaron kicked off the pillar as hard as he could, splintering the pillar as he did, while flinging both of his arms back. The force of the jump sending him flying through the air in a straight line and all the way through the obstacle.

"Haha!" Aaron laughed out looking behind him at Jordan's shock expression, as he flew through the air nearly as fast as a car, everyone's eyes widening except for Derek and Jackson at the sight. 

However, Aaron didn't get to celebrate for very long, because a few seconds after launching himself through the air, Aaron turned his head back forward only to be greeted by solid brick.


	9. Team Tournament

“Alright! Shush up and listen up!” Mr. Fernandez spoke up as the bell rang for seventh period. As everyone quieted down, Mr. Fernandez walked up to the front of the room with a remote in his left hand.

“Today we will be continuing our competitions to see which of you are the best at utilizing your magic in different scenarios!” Mr. Fernandez announced, causing the entire class to erupt in excitement.

“Which tournament will we be doing today? Last time we had a racing tournament.” Jackson asked with a raised hand.

“Ah! Good question, today we will be doing a team tournament!” Mr. Fernandez exclaimed, with a barrage of questions erupting as he finished.

“Are we going to pick our teammates?” Caliose broke in.

“How many people can be on a team?” Nicole blurted out.  
“Will we be using a bracket system again?” Julie asked as well.

“Wait for me to finish!” Mr. Fernandez barked at his class, irritated by the interrupting questions.

“Sorry…” Everyone apologized hanging their heads.

“Ahem… Now then. The teams will consist of two people each, and a team can win by doing one or more specific deeds. ” Mr. Fernandez explained after clearing his throat. Just as he finished the class was about to explode in a frenzy of questions. But before they could, Mr. Fernandez shot a glare, making everyone keep quiet before continuing.

“To win a team must either make the opposite team unable to continue, destroy the opposing team’s relic, or force the other team to give up.” Mr. Fernandez detailed swiftly grabbing a marker and writing the three options on the whiteboard. 

“What do you mean by ‘destroy the opposing team’s relic’?” Serena blurted out, raising a hand.

“Good question! Each team will have a relic or item that they have to protect. You can destroy it by physically breaking it, or by cutting off its flow of magic.” Mr. Fernandez explained, with excitement sweeping through his words.

“Now, I will display the teams here so you can begin forming strategies as we make our way outside.” Mr. Fernandez said before pressing several buttons on the remote, turning on the overhead projector from the back of the classroom.

As the projector came to life, it displayed each team and their opponents in a bracket system. Everyone immediately casted their gazes to the board to see who they were paired up with. 

As Aaron glazed over the bracket, he finally found his name after noticing that he was the last match in the first round as well. As well, the board showed that Aaron was teamed up with Jin and their opponents were Jordan and Serena.

“Looks like we’re on a team. Let’s give it our best!” Aaron grinned after he made his way to Jin’s desk.

“Just don’t get in my way…” Jin huffed out turning his head the other way, making Aaron tilt his head in confusion. However, before he could ask Jin what he meant by that, Mr. Fernandez broke in.

“Alright, now that you are all in your teams, let’s head outside!”

And with that, the entire class headed out, and seven minutes later, were greeted with the outdoor gym once again changed. This time, the entire field was changed instead of something being added. The changes consisting of hills, rock formations, along with ruins dotted across the field. At each end of the field, there sat a small pedestal, each having a different object resting on top, one being a sort of shield, and the other being an orb/crystal.

“Alright! First match teams head to your relics! You will have thirty minutes to try and win, otherwise it will be considered a tie. Ready?” Mr. Fernandez called out after the first two teams made their way to their respective sides of the field.

“Yeah!” Both teams cheered simultaneously, excitement and determination emanating from them.

And with a press of a button, a loud alarm sounded, signalling the start of the match.

As the match started, Aaron walked over to Jin to try and talk with him some since they rarely conversed.

“Hey, Jin. Do you have a plan? If so, let me know what you’ve thought of.” Aaron asked after getting Jin’s attention.

“I thought I told you to try and not get in my way. That’s all.” Jin simply replied turning his attention back to the match, these actions irritating Aaron. 

“Hey, I know you’ve got strong magic an all. But this is a team tournament. So we have to work as one.” Aaron retorted placing a hand on Jin’s shoulder.

“Whatever…” Jin replied trying to shrug off Aaron’s hand.  _ There’s only three people in this class that could even hope to break through my magic, and one of them is my partner. This’ll be easy. _

“Hey!” Aaron snapped, tightening his grip on Jin’s shoulder, before turning him, making them face each other.

“This is a team tournament! We have to work together or we’ll lose!” Aaron argued narrowing his eyes as he stood in front of Jin.

“Just don’t get in my way. Simple as that.” Jin replied turning away with an unamused expression, only irritating Aaron more.

“Ok! Fine…” Was all Aaron said before walking away and waiting for the matches to finish.

After the first three matches wrapped up, the teams so far moving onto the next round were; Jackson and Nicole’s team, Dean and Marilyn’s team, and Derek and Caliose’s team.

As the first round matches finished up, leaving only Aaron and Jin verses Jordan and Serena left. As each team made their way to each end of the field, Aaron couldn’t help but give Jin a small glare, while Jin looked as if he was bored out of his mind.

“Alright! Fourth match teams head to your relics! You will have thirty minutes to try and win, otherwise it will be considered a tie. Ready?” Mr. Fernandez called out after the the teams made their way to their respective sides of the field.

“Ready!” Jordan and Serena yelled out while Aaron and Jin simply nodded. And with a press of a button, a loud buzzer sounded, signalling the start of the match.

As soon as the buzzer sounded, Jin raised up an arm towards the relic on the pedestal, before light blue, transparent, hexagonal pieces appeared and formed a shield around the relic on all sides. 

At the opposite side of the field, Serena zoomed forward, lightning arcing across her body as she ran. As well as, Jordan firing his magic from his palms, blasting right behind her.

It didn’t take Serena and Jordan more than a minute and a half to make it to Aaron and Jin’s side of the field. As they made it, they were greeted by Jin standing in front of their shielded relic and Aaron standing off to the side with his arms crossed.

“I’ll end this with one attack! Heaven Ward: Cannon Fire!” Serena called out with two spheres of lightning blasting from her palms, before combining and exploding after connecting with Jin’s shield. The resulting explosion creating a smoke cloud that enveloped the shield and made Jin cover his face with his arm.

As the smoke cleared, it relieved Jin’s shield still standing, however with very noticeable cracks all over it, making Jin stare wide eye at the results.

_ I didn’t think she had so much power! _ Jin thought to himself, panic slowly creeping up.

“That’s not all! Red Force: 20mm blaster!” Jordan called out without skipping a beat, extending both of his arms with an orb of red energy forming between his hands, before blasting Jin’s shield. The resulting explosion once again forcing Jin to cover his face and further cracking the shield.

“Hey! Aren’t you gonna do anything!” Jin barked over to Aaron who had yet to move an inch, with his arms still crossed.

“Huh? Whatever do you mean?” Aaron replied with fake ignorance as he stared at Jin, who’s eyes widen in disbelief.

“That’s a pretty tough shield you’ve made. Heaven Ward: Thunder Sword!” Serena called out before Jin could respond to Aaron. At the same time clapping her hands together and sending a blast of lightning at Jin’s shield. However, Jin managed to create a smaller shield in front of the first, softening the blow. 

“But it doesn’t look like it’s gonna last! Red Force: Rapid Bullets!” Jordan called out after Serena’s attack connected with the shield. While pointing his arms towards the shield, with his hands shaped like finger guns, before blasting a barrage of red lasers from the tips of his fingers towards the shield.

“Will you do something!” Jin howled at Aaron, trying to keep his shield from breaking from the barrage of attacks.

“I thought you told me not to get in your way?” Aaron replied coldly with an unamused expression on his face. Jin only grinded his teeth as his shield was attacked once more, forcing him to create multiple mini shields to try and extend the durability of the first shield.

“Grrr… Fine! I’ll start thinking of you as a teammate! Now help me dammit!” Jin exploded as he tried to fend off Serena and Jordan’s continuous attacks. As soon as he finished, a toothy grin appearing on Aaron’s face as he shifted his arms to his sides.

“Took you long enough!” Aaron bellowed, blazing flames from his body and sending them towards Serena and Jordan, forcing the two to dodge.

“Fire Dragon: Scattered Scales!” Aaron yelled out after leaping into the air, and crossing his arms in front of his chest. With rings of flames forming, and swirling around Aaron. Before swinging out his arms, the flames erupting outwards in all directions, forming into dozens of fireballs.

Each fireball was at least the size of a football as they rained down onto the field, forming small craters as some hit the ground. 

Serena managed to dodge several fireballs using her magic to increase her speed, until a stray fireball crashes into her back making her tumble to the ground.

Just as the fireballs began raining down, Jordan used his magic to try and blast any fireball that came at him, until a fireball slipped through, and crashed straight into his gut, making him fall to his back.

At the same time Jin prepared to reinforce his shield covering their relic to protect against Aaron’s attack. However, not one fireball went towards Jin or their relic.

_ ‘Did he fire off that attack while making sure no fireballs came this way? Or were we just really lucky?’ _ Jin questioned under his breath as he turned his attention to Aaron, who just landed back onto the ground with a loud thud, his toothy grin not leaving his face for a second.

As the smoke cleared from Aaron’s attack, it revealed Serena and Jordan both struggling to stand with several bruises and their cloths slightly singed. 

“Alright, let’s go!” Aaron exclaimed igniting his feet in flames and leaping forward through the air. As he sailed through the air, Aaron increased the intensity of his fire several times, sending him flying forward, and past Serena and Jordan.

“Crap! He’s going for our relic!” Serena yelled lightning surging from below her, before dashing after Aaron as fast speeds. Just as Serena ran off after Aaron, Jordan fired his magic off and blasted himself after Serena.

As Aaron soared through the air, it didn’t take him no more than a minute to reach the other side of the field and spot Serena and Jordan’s relic.

“There you are!” Aaron yelled landing on to the ground before kicking off into a run towards the pedestal. However, before he could get too much closer, Serena and Jordan fired off a barrage of attacks to block his path.

“I’m not letting you win that easily Aaron!” Serena exclaimed landing onto the ground and between Aaron and the relic, Jordan landing seconds later.

“I didn’t expect you to! Fire Dragon: Roar!” Aaron yelled out, flames erupting from his mouth and towards the other two. Before Aaron’s attack could touch them, Serena and Jordan charged their own spells to counter.

“Heaven Ward: Cannon Fire!” Serena called out, two orbs of lightning firing from her palms and combining as they soared towards Aaron’s attack.

“Red Force: 20mm Blaster!” Jordan called out as well, extending his arms with a red orb generating between his hands before firing.

The resulting explosion from all three attacks colliding forced Serena and Jordan to shield their eyes. Just as the force died down, Aaron bolted out of the dust before stopping in between Serena and Jordan before they could react. At the same time Aaron crossed his arms in front of him while slightly crouching down.

“Your team has awesome offense and speed. However, neither of you guys can defend very much at all.” Aaron said his hair covering his eyes, while Serena and Jordan’s eyes widen at how fast he had moved.

“HYA!!” Aaron yelled swinging out his arms to Serena and Jordan, slamming his palms into their guts, embedding each of them into rock formations. Right after, Aaron dug his foot into the ground and leaped into the air, while igniting his fist in fire.

“Let’s end this! Fire Dragon: Claw!” Aaron yelled out reeling his fist back before swinging it down, crashing into Serena and Jordan’s relic, destroying it instantly along with the pedestal it sat upon.

“Team Aaron and Jin have destroyed the opposing team’s relic. Therefore they win the match!” Mr. Fernandez called out as Aaron landed onto the ground.

After the match, Aaron went over to Serena, and after pulling her out of the rocks, carried her over to the rest of the class so she could be healed. Jin also grabbed Jordan and carried him over as well.

“Why didn’t you hold back man?” Paylong asked Aaron, with Serena still in his arms, as soon as he got within ear shot.

“Why should I have? They’re both strong, so if I held back too much, my team would’ve lost.” Aaron replied with a raised eyebrow, as he set Serena down on one of the small beds they had set up for anyone who had gotten injured.

“Still man, using that much force on a girl doesn’t bode well with me.” Paylong added, crossing his arms and slightly shaking his head.

“What does it matter if Serena’s a girl?” Aaron asked, slightly irritated by Paylong’s words.

“Now would the teams of the first match of the second round please head to their relics!” Mr. Fernandez broke in before the conversation could continue any further.

After the teams made their way onto the field, Jin walked up and lightly tapped Aaron on his shoulder. Just as Aaron turned towards him, Jin sent his fist flying into Aaron’s cheek, getting half of the class to gasp at his actions.

“Why the hell didn’t you do anything until my shield was almost broken!” Jin chided Aaron, with his fist still lodged in Aaron’s cheek. A few moments pass before Aaron fully turns his head, forcing Jin’s fist back.

“You said not to get in your way, I thought by that you meant you’d have everything under control.” Aaron replied with blank stare, as if the punch never happened at all, while Jin pulled his fist back.

“What the? Why would you —” Jin began, before Aaron cut him off, pointing a finger at his chest.

“Don’t think I didn’t know what you were thinking when this tournament started.” Aaron claimed, confusing Jin and several other of their classmates.

“You’re the one who underestimated our opponents, and nearly costed us the match. If you just recognized their strength you wouldn’t have needed such immediate help!” Aaron continued, crossing his arms with his brow furrowing a slight bit as he finished.

“Tsk!” Jin scoffed, turning and walking away to the other end of the waiting area.

“Just make sure you don’t screw up.” Was all Jin said as he walked away from Aaron and the rest of the class.

After the first match finished up, leaving Jackson and Nicole’s team one of the finalists, and leaving tensions and expectations high. After each team made it back to the rest of the class, Mr. Fernandez instructed the last two teams to head to their relics.

“Don’t underestimate Derek or Caliose, they’re both strong.”

“I’m not worried about Derek. All his magic can do is levitate things.”

“Yeah, and send them flying over hundred miles per hour through the air… Totally nothing to worry about…”

“Oh? And how do you know that?”

“Because me and Derek have been friends since elementary school.”

“Alright then… What about Caliose? He shouldn’t be too tough to deal with…”

“Nah… He’s really smart when it comes to people’s match ups… He’ll probably have a plan for what to do against us.”

“Then what do you want us to do?!”

“Simple. Protect the relic the best you can, while I dash across the field and break their relic.”

“You’re such a dumbass…”

“Alright! Quarter finals match teams head to your relics! You will have thirty minutes to try and win, otherwise it will be considered a tie. Ready?” Mr. Fernandez called out after the the teams finished their conversations.


	10. Fighting Tournament

“Alright! Now that we have finished both the racing tournament and the team tournament, we now move on to the fighting tournament!” Mr. Fernandez began, clapping his hands together as the bell rang and everyone took their seats.

“Yeah!” Most of the class cheered out.

“Now, before we head out to the field, I’ll explain the rules and show you all the bracket.” Mr. Fernandez cleared his throat, getting everyone to quiet down after a few seconds.

“Now, this will be a standard one on one fight with a thirty minute time limit. To win you must either knockout your opponent, immobilize them, or make them unable to continue the fight.” Mr. Fernandez explained, writing down the rules on the front board with a marker.

“Understand? Good! Here’s the bracket!” Mr. Fernandez exclaimed, taking a small remote out of his pocket and pressing the center button.

Right after Mr. Fernandez turned on the projector, the bracket showed up on the front board with the first round matches being, Aaron-vs-Marilyn, Paylong-vs-Derek, Dean-vs-Caliose, Nicole-vs-Serena, Katelyn-vs-Julie, Yu-vs-Jordan and Jay-vs-Jackson.

“Alright, let’s head on out. Aaron, Marilyn get ready cuz you’re on first!” Mr. Fernandez said after a few seconds, opening the door and heading out.

* * *

 

And with that, the class left the classroom and after seven minutes arrived at the once again changed outdoor gym. The field itself was a flat, stone and dirt field the size of a football field, with large bleachers surrounding the entire arena.

Immediately after the class made it outside, Aaron and Marilyn broke off and headed off to their respective prep rooms on each end of the arena, while everyone else got themselves seated on the bleachers.

It didn’t take long for the rest of the class to sit down, and while they were waiting for Aaron and Marilyn to get ready, they decided talk about who they thought would win.

“I think Marilyn’s got this in the bag.” Nicole spoke out loud, leaning back onto the seats behind her.

“Why’s that?” Jay asked, resting his head on his hands.

“Well, for one she’s got some awesome magic and spells, not to mention she can come up with amazing plans in seconds.” Nicole explained, closing her eyes as she remembered when they went on a mission together.

“Yeah, when it comes to planning, she’s got Aaron beat.” Paylong agreed, crossing his arms and nodding his head.

“Well, Aaron’s got some serious strength and power though.” Jordan spoke up, remembering the time Aaron brute forced right through his magic.

“Don’t forget he’s one of the fastest in our class.” Serena pointed out.

“What do you think Derek? You and Aaron have been friends since you were kids, right?” Katelyn asked, turning her head towards him.

“Marilyn’s got Aaron beat when it comes to strategy and planning, however, when it comes to fighting, Aaron’s straight up a genius.” Derek explained with a small smile on his face, along with everyone turning their heads to him.

“Let’s just wait and see.” Jackson said, opening his eyes and peering down at the arena, the conversation quickly ending afterward.

* * *

 

After that, Aaron and Marilyn both had finished preparing and started to walk out onto the field, with Mr. Fernandez standing off on the side of the arena on top of a small stage.

“I hope you’re ready to get your ass handed to you by a girl.” Marilyn provoked with a confident smirk on her face, while shifting into stance.

“Let the best fighter win.” Aaron simply said with a small grin on his face as he also shifted into stance.

“Oh, I will…” Marilyn replied, narrowing her eyes.

“Ready? 3… 2… 1… BEGIN!” Mr. Fernandez yelled, throwing an arm into the air, signaling the start of the match.

Immediately after Mr. Fernandez started the match, Aaron kicked off the ground and dash towards Marilyn, with his arms at his sides.

“Frost Demon: Spire!” Marilyn called out, before pink ice, formed from the ground and surged towards Aaron. As soon as he saw the attack coming, Aaron leapt into the air, avoiding the ice as it surged below him.

As he fell Aaron landed on top of the ice spire, before pushing off and towards Marilyn throwing his foot forward, aiming for her head. However, Marilyn managed to dodge Aaron’s kick at the last second, resulting in Aaron flying past her.

“Frost Demon: Club Strike!” Marilyn called out spinning around to face Aaron, placing one of her hands in her palm, before thrusting out her arms. As she did, large maces made of pink ice shot from her palms and crashed into Aaron, creating a small dust cloud.

However, before Marilyn could lower her arms, Aaron shot out from the cloud, reeling his arm back to strike her. Just as Aaron threw his fist, Marilyn ducked, at the same time clapping her hands together.

“Frost Demon: Cannon Blast!” Marilyn called out, thrusting her palms into Aaron’s chest, before a large blast of ice shot from Marilyn’s hands and sent Aaron skidding backwards.

“Not bad! Not bad at all…” Aaron marvelled as he patted his chest where Marilyn just blasted him, wiping off some frost that formed at the same time.

“Flattery will get you nowhere.” Marilyn replied, standing up straight.

 _'Damn! What the hell is this guy made of?'_ Marilyn questioned in her head as she stared at Aaron.

“True… so let’s stop playing around and get started!” Aaron exclaimed, clenching his hand into a fist, at the same time igniting his hand in flames.

“Fire Dragon: Claw!” Aaron called out, kicking off the ground and jabbing his flame covered fist forward.

“Frost Demon: Spire!” Marilyn called out, narrowly creating a wall of her pink ice before Aaron’s fist connected.

“Frost Demon: Lance Strike!” Marilyn called out immediately afterward, slamming her hands flat onto the spire she just created. As soon as she did, the ice in front of Aaron shot forward, with the force of the attack sending him back, and cutting him several times.

“Fire Dragon: Roar!” Aaron called out after coming to a stop, before flames erupted from his mouth and barreled towards Marilyn, still behind the ice spire. As the attack reached Marilyn, the flames engulfed her along with the spire for several seconds before the flames died out.

However, as the flames died down, it revealed Marilyn completely unharmed along with the spire looking as thought nothing had even happened.

“What?!” Most of the class exclaimed from the bleachers as Marilyn walked out from behind the spire, with Aaron only grinning at the sight.

“You won’t be able to melt my ice, by the way.” Marilyn spoke up after a few moments of confusion.

“The ice created by my Frost Demon magic is ice so cold that it can’t be melted by any heat.” Marilyn continued, placing a hand on her hip, the information only getting a toothy grin from Aaron.

“Only one way to find out!” Aaron yelled, dashing forward with his fist coated in flames. Marilyn simply raised both of her arms to her sides, ready to counter.

“Frost Demon: Spires!” Marilyn called out before Aaron could reach her, ice forming up from the ground and into a pyramid shield all around her.

“Fire Dragon: Claw!” Aaron called out, slamming his fist into the ice barrier, the force of the attack kicking up dirt in all directions.

However, immediately afterward, a loud cracking noise echoed through the entire arena, along with Aaron slightly groaning out in pain. But, despite the pain, Aaron did not remove his fist from the ice.

Aaron then grit his teeth, before a surge of flames blaze from his fist, engulfing his body along with the ice shield.

“Fire Dragon: Purgatory!” Aaron roared, twisting his arm and hurling his fist skyward, with enormous amounts of flames erupting from his body, creating a resulting fireball easily the size of a two-story house.

Everyone sitting on the bleachers had to cover themselves because of the heat from the fire and force of the attack, at the same time trying to see either Aaron or Marilyn.

It took nearly a full minute for the flames to die out, and reveal Aaron and Marilyn. However, Marilyn’s ice was not melted and stood strong, however it did have steam pouring off of it, before the spell was released.

“That was close, if I just let your attack go without putting more magic into my spell, my ice would’ve shattered.” Marilyn explained, sounding slightly out of breath as she spoke.

 _‘Shit… I don’t have much magic left after than… I was kinda betting on that to melt her ice…’_ Aaron thought in his head as he rubbed his now bruised knuckles. _‘Wait… she said my attack nearly shattered her ice?’_

“It’s about time this match is over. Frost Demon: Club Strike!” Marilyn called out, firing several ice maces at Aaron, kicking up a small dust cloud at the same time.

Even before the dust cloud could fully dissipate, Marilyn continued her assault with another volley of ice maces. However, Aaron managed to avoid the second attack by jumping backwards several yards.

“You’re not getting away! Frost Demon: Zeroth's Longsword!” Marilyn yelled out, leaping towards Aaron and slamming her hand into her palm. At the same time, her hands glow before swiping out her arm, creating a large blade of ice, and slamming it into Aaron’s gut.

“Followed by, Frost Demon: Impact!” Marilyn continued, hopping back and slamming her hand onto the ground. With a huge ice hammer then forming and crashing down towards Aaron.

Aaron managed to dodge the hammer, however the force of the hammer hitting the ground, caused Aaron to lose his footing. At the same time, Marilyn dashed around and to the left, putting several yards distance between the two.

“And to finish up! Frost Demon: Zeroth’s Longbow!” Marilyn called out, reeling one arm back, at the same time extending the other. Immediately creating a jagged ice bow, along with a shining arrow, before firing the arrow with blistering speeds, and into Aaron’s gut.

“Agh!” Aaron coughed out, with blood flying out of his mouth as Marilyn’s attack sent him crashing backwards dozens of feet.

As her attack hit, Marilyn lowered her arms and brushed her hair behind her ears, as she waiting for Mr. Fernandez to call the match.

A few moments of silence pass, making Marilyn look over to where Mr. Fernandez was standing and ask why he wasn’t calling the match, before Aaron staggered to his feet, making Marilyn’s eyes widen.

“Not bad… I nearly got knocked out there… But I’m not losing…” Aaron uttered out, blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth, along with frost on his shirt.

“I didn’t think you could take a hit that well… But it doesn’t matter now. You’re in no shape to beat me, so just give up.” Marilyn replied turning away from Aaron, while crossing her arms.

“Never look away from your opponent in a fight!” Aaron hissed, suddenly right next to Marilyn, swinging his foot into her side. The impact sending Marilyn tumbling for several feet before stopping.

 _‘What the hell?! How did he get so close so fast?!’_ Marilyn mumbled to herself as she pushed herself off the ground and to her feet. She began to turn towards Aaron to attack, but before she could Aaron was suddenly right above her, once again swinging his leg to kick her.

Marilyn managed to form some ice on her arm and raise it to block Aaron’s kick, however, the force still send her back a few feet.

“Frost Demon: Spire!” Marilyn called out, stomping a foot onto the ground, before ice shot out and surged forward.

As the ice barreled towards him, Aaron didn’t make any attempt to dodge, instead he simply clenched his fist, reeled his arm back and slammed it into the ice. The force of his punch shattering the ice and sending it flying back towards Marilyn, who narrowly avoided by rolling to the side.

“How the hell did you do that?! You shouldn’t be able to melt my ice!” Marilyn barked, after getting up off the ground. Aaron simply grinning before responding.

“You’re right, I can’t melt your ice as I am. But I sure as hell can break it!” Aaron howled before bolting towards Marilyn, sending a flying kick into her shoulder before she could dodge.

“Frost Demon: Impact!” Marilyn called out, slamming a fist into her palm, with a large ice hammer forming and heaving down at Aaron.

In response, Aaron clenched his fist and slamming it into the hammer, shattering it and sending the shards skyward.

“How…? My ice should be stronger than concrete!” Marilyn blurted out, widen eyed at Aaron punching her ice to pieces.

“Yeah, hurts like a bitch, but I’ll be fine” Aaron replied, shaking the hand he just used to shatter Marilyn’s attacks. With Marilyn only grinding her teeth against each other and bawling her hands into fists.

 _‘Do you think just because you can put on a tough face, you’ll beat me?! Like hell you will!’_ Marilyn yelled in her head, focusing her magic towards her arms.

“Frost Demon: Frozen Gauntlets!” Marilyn howled out, crossing her arms over her chest, before swinging them back out. Ice then forming around her hands and arms, before solidifying into medieval style gauntlets, then dashing forward.

“Looks like you got some fight left! Alright, let’s go!” Aaron yelled out, quickly dashing forward as well.

As soon as they reached each other, Marilyn reeled back one of her arms and heaved it forward, aiming for Aaron’s face. However, Aaron simply caught Marilyn’s frozen fist in his hand before she could touch him, the force of her punch kicking up dirt behind Aaron. Marilyn didn’t miss a beat and swung her other fist at Aaron, only for it to be caught as well, along with a small shockwave kicking back some rocks.

“You’re strong… and your magic allows you to get around your affinity match up… However, I won’t lose here!” Aaron yelled, tightening his grip on Marilyn’s icy gauntlets so much that they shattered.

Time seemed to slow after Aaron shattered Marilyn’s gauntlets. As soon as her ice broke, Marilyn’s eyes widen along with her mouth gaping. However, before the ice could even fall an inch, Aaron grasped Marilyn’s wrist, twisting his body close, shifted his feet, and hurled Marilyn over his shoulder and slammed her flat onto the ground, cracking it in the process.

A few moments pass with Aaron standing above Marilyn, both slightly out of breath, before Mr. Fernandez shot his arm high into the air.

“Marilyn has been knocked out, therefore Aaron is the victor and will move onto the second round!” Mr. Fernandez announced as Aaron breathed out slowly, before bending over and picking up Marilyn’s body and taking her over to Mr. Fernandez.

* * *

 

“Good job man!” Derek said to Aaron outside the prep room, giving him a fist bump after Aaron dropped Marilyn off at the nurses tent, and got healed.

“Thanks. But don’t forget that if you win you’ll be my next victim!” Aaron jested, with a grin forming on his face, along with fire in his eyes.

“In your dreams!” Derek replied, giving Aaron a smug smirk.

“Now! Would Derek and Caliose please head to the prep rooms!” Mr. Fernandez’s voice rang through the area.

“See you in a few.” Derek said turning to head into the prep room.

“Don’t lose got it?” Aaron simply said turning away as well. The two friends bumping a fist on the other’s back as they walked.

“Congrats on your win Aaron!” Katelyn cheered as Aaron arrived at the row bleachers the rest of the class were sitting at.

“Yeah, good job!” Serena said as well, the two smiling brightly as Aaron walked up and sat down next to the duo.

“Thanks! I didn’t think I wouldn’t be able to melt Marilyn’s ice though.” Aaron confessed, rubbing the back of his head with a small smile.

“I thought for sure you lost when she got you with that arrow.” Jordan said, leaning forward as he talked.

“Same, but right after I thought I lost, my body got back up.” Aaron added, before crossing his arms making a thoughtful expression.

“That’s just your way of saying you didn’t give up.” Serena deadpanned with a blank expression, slightly irritating Aaron.

“Let’s just watch the remaining matches.” Katelyn broke in before Serena could tease Aaron any more.

“Yeah! Derek’s next up, he’ll win for sure!” Aaron exclaimed, instantly forgetting all about Serena’s comment.

“You think? I mean Derek’s magic isn’t very combat viable.” Julie pointed out, getting a murmur of agreement from the rest of the class.

“Just wait and see…” Aaron simply said, with a doofy grin on his face, making Katelyn and Serena giggle.

After a few minute pass, Derek and Caliose step onto the arena, both finished preparing and looked like they were ready to win.

“Don’t hold back you hear?” Derek advised as the two got into their places.

“You should worry more on how you’ll try and win, not if I’m going all out or not.” Caliose calmly responded, with a serious expression on his face as he shifted into stance.

“To each their own…” Derek sighed out standing straight.

“Ready? 3… 2… 1… BEGIN!!!” Mr. Fernandez yelled, throwing an arm into the air, signaling the start of the match.

“Heaven’s Power: Cannons!” Caliose instantly called out, firing several blasts of violet energy towards Derek.

As the blast reach Derek, the resulting explosion kicked up a dust cloud the size of a truck. A few moments pass before revealing Derek in the same spot, unharmed despite it looking like the attack got a clean hit in.

“What the? Heaven’s Power: Cannons!” Caliose called out again, firing another volley of violet energy blasts. The attack once again looks like it hit its mark, only to reveal Derek unharmed and completely still.

“You’re not going to even touch me with that level of attack.” Derek explained as he crossed his arms and peered over at Caliose.

“Grr… Heaven’s Power: Punishment!” Caliose called out, drawing a omega symbol in the air before dozens of violet blasts of energy shot from the symbol and towards Derek.

“Looks like I’ve got no choice…” Derek signed as Caliose’s attack reached him, kicking up a large dust cloud. Multiple moments pass before the dust clears, once again revealing Derek unharmed.

“I guess I have to show you why you shouldn’t hold back.” Derek spoke up, raising one of his arms, dozens of rocks floating above his hand. Derek then tightly gripped his hand into a fist, with the rocks then slamming together and condensing into a golf ball sized rock.

“Tch! If you think smashing together a few rocks will scare me, you’re wrong! Heaven’s Power: Bomber!” Caliose yelled out, swing out one of his arms back, with a large energy ball the size of a truck, generating from his hand at the same time.

However, before Caliose could even move his arm to send the energy ball towards Derek, the condensed rock shot forward as fast as a bullet, pierced through the energy ball, and caused the energy ball to burst and force Caliose to the ground.

A few moments pass before Caliose pushes himself up on his hands and looks up to see Derek standing in the exact same spot, along with the condensed rock curling around him.

“You should know that when a small object with high density comes into contact with anything, the other object usually gets damaged.” Derek explained in a matter of fact tone as he looked down at Caliose.

“Don’t get cocky!” Caliose yelled, jumping to his feet and drawing half a dozen small omega symbols in the air, in the matter of a few seconds.

“Heaven’s Power: Divine Wrath!” Caliose called out, with huge blasts of violet energy fired from each of the signs and barreled toward Derek.

In response, Derek simply rapidly flicked his fingers in several directions, sending the dense stone through the air so fast that most of the class couldn’t even follow it with their eyes. At the same time blasting through each energy beam, before they could even get within ten feet of Derek.

Right after all of Caliose's attack were countered, Derek swung out his arm at the same time flicking his fingers in many different directions. 

Caliose then begins to cast another spell, however before he could even say any incantation, a loud crack echos throughout the entire arena. With the source of the sound being the condensed rock smacking into Caliose's back making him fly forward. 


End file.
